Inflation accelerated slightly in Honolulu last year as increases in the cost of gasoline and electricity helped fuel a 1.7 percent rise in the consumer price index for the metropolitan area.

The 2010 increase compared with a 0.7 percent inflation rate in 2009 when the economic activity was stifled by the recession.

Even with the modest increase in prices last year the 1.7 percent rise in the CPI was still well below recent peak in 2006 when the inflation rate hit 5.8 percent, according to data released today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Among the categories with the biggest increases were electricity, which rose 13.1 percent in 2010 from a year earlier, and gasoline, which increased by 6 percent, according to the BLS.