The rate of inflation jumped last month.

The government today released the figures for February.

They showed that the cost of living, measured by the Consumer Prices Index, was 4.4% higher in February than a year ealier.

That compares with 3.8% for January.

The big jump was driven by two factors: the cost of crude oil and a jump in air fares.

The annual increase in air fares, as measured by the government’s number crunchers, was 20.8%. The category ’oil and other fuels’ was up 17.5%.

Sea travel was up 6.5% and the price of gas rose 3.3%.

Prices in restaurants and hotels jumped 9.5%, while beer in pubs rose 4.6%.

Inflation measured by the Retail Prices Index, which uses different criteria for measuring price rises, rose 7.6%.