Inflation was unchanged in December as rising gas and electricity bills were offset by air fares easing and a drop in petrol prices.

The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) annual inflation figure stood at 2.7%, exactly as expected by economists.

However, the yearly Retail Prices Index (RPI) figure - a wider measure that includes extra housing costs - was up slightly at 3.1%, from 3.0% in November.

Both the indices rose by 0.5% between November and December this year, as forecast.

Utility bill increases were the largest contributor to the rise, according to the Office for National Statistics.

In contrast, the rise in the cost of flights in December was only half of what they were a year ago, while fuel prices continued to fall.

The figures continued the trend of broadly flat inflation that has been seen since Spring 2012.

Chris Crow, an analyst at Barclays, said he expected annual CPI inflation to fall back a little in the next few months, reflecting some easing in recent inflationary pressures across a range of goods and services.

"However, we forecast inflation to remain above the 2% target in the medium term," he warned.

"Domestic energy prices are likely to maintain their upwards trend, higher university tuition fees will feed into CPI inflation for the next three years, and pressure on firms' margins from high unit labour costs - a symptom of the UK's poor productivity performance - is likely to continue."

The biggest driver of the annual and monthly figures was the 2% rise in the housing and household services category, as a number of gas and electricity companies put up their prices in December.

Clothing and footwear prices fell by 1.5% on both measurements, however, this compared with a larger fall of 2.8% a year ago as jackets, coats and trousers and trousers were discounted less heavily.

Transport prices, overall, rose by 0.7% between November and December 2012 compared with a rise of 2.2% in 2011.

The downward effect came predominantly from air fares, with prices rising by approximately half as much as they did a year ago.

Petrol prices fell by 2.8p per litre between November and December 2012 compared with a fall of 1.1p per litre a year earlier.

Diesel prices fell by 1.4p per litre in 2012 compared with a rise of 0.1p per litre the previous year.

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