Headline inflation fell to 6.1 percent in May, down from 7.2 percent in April.Inflation decreased across most commodity groups, including: food and non-alcoholic beverages (from 6.0 percent to 5.5 percent);alcoholic beverages and tobacco (from 12.4 percent to 10.7 percent); housing water, electricity, gas and other fuels(from 6.9 percent to 3.3 percent);furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance (from 5.3 percent to 5.2 percent); health (from 4.7 percent to 4.6 percent); and transport (from 10.9 percent to 8.2 percent).The substantial fall in overall inflation was underpinned by the impact of increases to fuel prices and water tariffs in May 2012 falling out of the inflation calculation.This was partially offset by increased inflation for: clothing and footwear (from 6.7 percent to 7.2 percent); restaurants and hotels (from 8.0 percent to 8.5 percent); and miscellaneous goods and services (from 0.6 percent to 0.8 percent). Inflation was unchanged for:communication (zero percent);recreation and culture (4.4 percent) and education (4.7 percent).

The trimmed mean measure of core inflation fell from 6.8percent to 6.0 percent, while inflation excluding administered prices decreased from 6.4 percent to 6.1 percent.