UK Inflation Skyrockets To 41-Year Peak
Data released on Wednesday, the day of a crucial budget, revealed that British inflation has increased to a 41-year high due to rising energy and food prices in a growing cost-of-living crises.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) released a statement stating that the Consumer Prices Index hit 11.1 percent in October, marking its highest level since 1981.
That contrasted with the level of 10.1% in September, which was the highest in forty years and was identical to the level in July.
Despite the UK government’s restriction on energy prices, domestic gasoline costs skyrocketed once more as a result of key producer Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The October result exceeded the Bank of England’s anticipated peak and above market forecasts by 10.7 percent.
Despite the Energy Price Guarantee, rising gas and electricity prices caused headline inflation to reach its highest level in more than 40 years, according to ONS Chief Economist Grant Fitzner.
According to the ONS, gas prices have increased by 130% and electricity prices by 66% in the last year.
Despite governmental energy assistance, which aimed to keep annual energy expenditures at an average of £2,500, inflation continues to soar.
Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt attributed the increase in pricing on both the loosening of pandemic restrictions and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.
Tough choices
In an effort to correct the economic havoc that his predecessor Liz Truss caused, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak expects Hunt to raise taxes and cut spending on Thursday.
Inflation is rising in the UK and around the world as a result of Covid and Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Hunt warned on Wednesday.
This, in addition to sabotaging any possibility of long-term economic progress, is eating away at paychecks, household budgets, and savings.
The conflict in Ukraine has also caused inflation to spike to its greatest level globally in decades, causing economic unrest.
Due to this, major central banks have been obliged to hike interest rates, putting the economy at risk of a recession as a result of rising borrowing costs for households and businesses.
The Bank of England warned the UK economy may endure a record-long recession until mid-2024 when it announced its biggest rate hike since 1989 this month to tackle sky-high inflation.
In order to lower UK inflation, which it saw reaching a peak of around 11 percent, the BoE increased borrowing costs by 0.75 percentage points to 3.0 percent, the highest level since the global financial crisis of 2008.
Hunt noted that in order for the BoE to achieve its 2.0% inflation target, “tough” decisions will need to be made in Thursday’s budget.
“High inflation prevents us from having long-term, sustainable growth,” he declared.
Meanwhile, strikes have plagued the UK this year as employees protest low pay that hasn’t kept up with inflation.
The retail prices index, a measure of inflation that takes into account mortgage interest payments and is used by employers and trade unions to negotiate pay raises, soared to 14.2 percent in October from 12.6 percent in September, according to statistics released on Wednesday.
AFP
