UK inflation accelerates to 41-year excessive of 11.1%

The UK’s fee of inflation hit a contemporary 41-year excessive in October, accelerating to 11.1 per cent on the again of rising vitality and meals costs.

The Workplace for Nationwide Statistics stated the speed rose from 10.1 per cent in September, placing inflation at its highest degree since October 1981. Economists in a Reuters ballot had anticipated a fee of 10.7 per cent.

The sharp rise in the price of dwelling got here regardless of the federal government’s vitality worth assure, which capped payments for fuel and electrical energy at £2,500 for a family with common utilization of each fuels.

Meals worth inflation rose sharply to 16.5 per cent on an annual foundation, the best for 45 years, in keeping with the ONS.

“Rising fuel and electrical energy costs drove headline inflation to its highest degree for over forty years, regardless of the vitality worth assure,” Grant Fitzner, chief ONS economist, stated within the ONS assertion on Wednesday.

“Over the previous 12 months, fuel costs have climbed almost 130 per cent whereas electrical energy has risen by round 66 per cent,” he added.

The one brilliant spot within the figures was that core inflation, excluding meals and vitality, held regular at 6.5 per cent in October, the identical fee as in September.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt blamed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for the deepening value of dwelling disaster, however pledged to take “powerful however obligatory selections on tax and spending” in Thursday’s Autumn Assertion to assist convey inflation down.

“We can not have long-term, sustainable development with excessive inflation. Tomorrow I’ll set out a plan to get debt falling, ship stability, and drive down inflation whereas defending probably the most susceptible,” Hunt stated.