Prices of goods imported into the U.S. dropped in November for the first time in four months on cheaper crude oil and business equipment.

The 0.9 percent decline in the import-price index was more than forecast and followed a revised 0.3 percent increase in October that was smaller than initially estimated, the Labor Department reported today in Washington. The median forecast of 44 economists in a Bloomberg survey called for a 0.5 percent decrease. Prices excluding fuels fell 0.2 percent.

American companies and consumers may find limited price pressures from abroad as a slowing global economy reduces demand for commodities such as oil. Few signs of accelerating inflation give Federal Reserve officials, who wrap up their final policy meeting of the year today, room to add to record monetary stimulus to stoke the expansion.

“Inflation is very far down the list of concerns at this point,” Russell Price, senior economist at Ameriprise Financial Inc. in Detroit, said before the report. “We’re really still focused on worrying about the demand side of the equation.”

Projections in the Bloomberg survey ranged from a drop of 0.9 percent to a gain of 0.3 percent.

Compared with a year earlier, import prices decreased 1.6 percent in November, today’s report showed. They were unchanged in the 12 months ended in October. Import prices were forecast to fall 1 percent from the same month in 2011.