LONDON — expense boost in the U.K. unexpectedly fell in December, a shift that will likely fuel pressure on the financial institution of England to cut gain rates again next month.

The Office for National Statistics said Wednesday that expense boost, as measured by the customer prices index, was 2.5% in the year to December, largely as a outcome of easing worth pressures in the services sector, which accounts for around 80% of the British economy.

That was down from 2.6% the previous month. Economists had expected no transformation in the annual rate.

Though expense boost has fallen, it remains above the financial institution of England’s target of 2%.

If the financial institution of England decides to cut its main gain rate from 4.75%, it could well ease the pressure in British government steady earnings markets, which have been volatile in recent weeks.

The uptick in the gain rate investors are charging the British government to lend money over 10 years hit a 16-year high in recent days, piling pressure on Treasury chief Rachel Reeves to cut spending or raise taxes in order to allay concerns.

expense boost is way down from levels seen a couple of years ago, partly because central banks dramatically increased borrowing costs from near zero during the coronavirus pandemic when prices started to shoot up, first as a outcome of supply chain issues and then because of Russia’s packed-scale invasion of Ukraine, which pushed up vigor costs.

As expense boost rates have fallen from multidecade highs, central banks have started cutting gain rates, though few, if any, economists ponder that rates will fall back to the super-low levels that persisted in the years after the global monetary crisis of 2008-2009.