The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.4 percent in February after climbing 0.3 percent in January, making it the largest monthly gain since July, the U.S. Labor Department announced today.

About two-thirds of the rise in the CPI is attributable to higher gasoline prices. In February, the price of gas jumped 8.3 percent, the third-largest monthly increase since the spike that followed Hurricane Katrina in 2005. However, even with the most recent increase, the price of gas is still 36 percent below year-ago levels, CNNMoney reported.

“The one-time shock from lower commodity prices and the stronger dollar late last year has faded,” said Zach Pandl, an economist at Nomura Securities International in New York. “We haven’t slipped into a worrisome deflation situation.”

Core prices, which exclude food and energy, increased 0.2 percent last month, the same increase experienced in January. Economists were expecting a rise of just 0.1 percent. The overall core CPI is up 1.8 percent on a 12-month basis.

Apparel prices increased 1.3 percent, the biggest gain in that category since March 1990. New vehicle prices rose 0.8 percent, the largest gain since November 2004.