Prague - The Czech Republic's inflation slowed down in November to 4.4 per cent, lowest in a year, as the country braced for a fallout of the global financial crisis, government data showed Monday.

The November annual inflation rate dropped significantly from 6 per cent recorded in October chiefly owing to a lower rise in food and transport prices, the Czech Statistical Office said.

Consumer prices fell 0.5 per month-on-month as fuel prices kept falling for the fifth month. Falling inflation enables the central bank to further slash the country's borrowing costs.

The bank last cut the key two-week repo rate to 2.75 per cent on November 6 in a bid to boost country's export-driven economy expected to cool significantly owing to falling demand amid the turmoil on world markets.

The country's unemployment rate based on a number of jobseekers registered with state labour authorities climbed to 5.3 per cent in November, from 5.2 per cent the previous month, the Labour and Social Affairs Ministry said Monday. (dpa)