LONDON, April 20 (Reuters) - British consumer price inflation rose more than expected in March, led by knock-on effects from gas bills that were flat last month after falling a year ago, the Office for National Statistics said on Tuesday.
The Office for National Statistics said consumer price inflation rose to 3.4 percent last month from 3.0 percent in February, with higher fuel costs and fares for air transport also contributing to the increase.
Analysts had expected a reading of 3.2 percent, due to an increase in petrol prices and ongoing effects from January's rise in value-added tax as well as the record fall in gas prices in March last year.
Nonetheless, economists and the central bank expect higher inflation to be transitory, as the one-off effects above are gradually outweighed by weak growth and high unemployment, which limit the ability of firms and workers to raise prices and wages.
On the month, consumer price inflation rose 0.6 percent, twice as fast as analysts expected and above the 0.4 percent rate recorded in February.
The retail price inflation gauge -- which includes a broader range of housing costs -- hit its highest since September 2008, rising to 4.4 percent from 3.7 percent, versus forecasts for a rise to 4.2 percent.
RPI is used to index many social security payments and some wages.
Within the CPI basket, the biggest rise came from transport, which was up a record 11.3 percent on the year. Communication costs rose by 4.9 percent, again the highest annual rate since records began in January 1997.
Clothing and footwear prices fell at the slowest annual pace since July 2007, down 2.6 percent on the year, and services overall rose at their fastest rate since last May. (Reporting by David Milliken and Christina Fincher)