Inflation soared to its highest level in two and a half years last month, as air fares rose and the plunge in the pound started to affect food prices.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the Consumer Price Index (CPI) measure of inflation hit 1.6%, up from 1.2% in November.
Economists were expecting a rise of 1.4%.
The move pushed CPI to its highest level since July 2014, when it also reached 1.6%.
Separate figures for the Producer Price Index (PPI) showed that factory gate prices rose 2.7% year-on-year in December, as manufacturers started to pass through higher input costs following the collapse of the pound.
ONS head of inflation Mike Prestwood said: "This is the highest CPI has been for over two years, though the annual rate remains below the Bank of England's target and low by historical standards.
"Rising air fares and food prices, along with petrol prices falling less than last December, all helped to push up the rate of inflation.
"Rising raw material costs also continued to push up the prices of goods leaving factories."
The jump in food prices was one of the biggest contributors to rising CPI, with a hike in the cost of vegetables helping push overall food up by 0.8% between November and December, having been flat a year earlier.
The ONS said the 12-month rate for food prices was still negative, down 1% on the year, but that was still the highest since July 2014.
Supermarkets have been locked in a bitter price war, with discount grocers putting pressure on competitors. However, there are signs that the Brexit-hit pound is starting to push up prices at the till, particularly for imported goods.
Sterling weakness was a factor in rising food prices, but was not the sole contributor to the jump, the ONS said.
It follows a significant drop in sterling, with renewed Brexit jitters having sent the pound as low as 1.21 against the US dollar in December, a 19% drop from its pre-referendum high on June 23.
A bumper 49% rise in air fares between November and December contributed to a 2.9% jump in overall transport prices.
That is compared with a rise in air fares of 46% a year earlier.
The cost of living was also pushed up by fuel prices which fell by a smaller amount than they did a year earlier, dropping 0.4% between November and December, compared with 2.8% over the same period in 2015.
The price of petrol at the pump fell by 0.8p per litre to 114.6p in December, while diesel was steady at 118p.
That was affected by oil production cuts announced by the Opec cartel in November, with wholesale crude prices up from around 49.09 US dollars per barrel (£40.72) to nearly 54.86 US dollars per barrel (£45.50) by December 30.
The Retail Prices Index (RPI) - a separate measure of inflation that includes housing costs - rose to 2.5%, up from 2.2% in November.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel