Annual inflation in Switzerland last month reached its lowest level for six months, according to figures released on Tuesday.

The Swiss Federal Statistics Office in Neuchâtel reported that the inflation rate was 0.3 per cent in June, compared with 0.6 per cent in May and 1.6 per cent in June last year.

Swiss consumer prices fell by 0.1 per cent between May and June, mainly due to cheaper prices for heating oil and petrol.

Figures showed that the annual inflation rate had not been so low since December 2001.

Fuel prices fell in June by 1.4 per cent from the level in May and have shown a decrease of 9.8 per cent compared with a year ago.

Officials commented that the price level of domestic goods had remained stable in June. However, prices for imported goods had shown a decrease of 0.5 per cent due to the lower prices for oil products.

Overall during the past year, domestic goods have risen in price by an average 1.3 per cent, while imported products have gone down in price by 2.6 per cent.

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