By Andy Bruce and William Schomberg
LONDON (Reuters) - Dragged down by clothing and footwear prices, Britain's inflation rate fell as expected in March when oil prices tumbled and the coronavirus crisis escalated, official data showed on Wednesday.
The consumer price index was 1.5% higher compared with March 2019, the Office for National Statistics said, as a Reuters poll of economists had predicted, following a 1.7% rise in February.
A fall in clothing and footwear prices was the biggest drag on consumer prices in March.
"Prices usually rise between February and March, and this year's fall is the first since 2015 and only the second since the start of the constructed (inflation) series in 1988," the ONS said.
Sales were likely to have been impacted by the coronavirus outbreak, the ONS added.
Although the data for inflation were collected on March 17 -- a few days before the enactment of a full-scale lockdown -- the ONS said consumer behavior might have changed in expectation of the restrictions.
Petrol prices at the pump fell by 5.1 pence per liter between February and March, the biggest drop since December 2018.
It was a similar story for manufacturers.
Petrol prices were the biggest drag on both output and input cost prices for factories, the ONS said.
Still, factory output prices rose unexpectedly in March, rising 0.3% on the year, against expectations in the Reuters poll for a 0.1% drop.