CSO figures show prices rose by 5 per cent in the year to January.
That's down from 5.5 per cent in the 12 months to December.
Chief Economist with KBC Bank Ireland, Austin Hughes, says while the improvement in the figure will be welcomed, it could be short lived:
"What it means is that we're not seeing runaway price increases across the board, but the likelihood is that inflation will head higher in coming months. Part of the drop is technical, and we're much more broadly based post Christmas sales this year then, after the COVID effective Christmas of 2021."
