The UK economy is on flat growth for a couple of years, while government forecasts of greater activity vanish, and the Bank of England could still rise interest rates further. In effect the BoE has warned rates will remain high for some time or even rise higher. Rate currently stands at 5,25%, the highest in fifteen years.
Falling prices for milk, cheese, and vegetables helped drive a surprise fall in United Kingdom inflation in August, with prices now rising at their slowest rate in a year-and-a-half.
The United Kingdom interest rates were left unchanged after the Bank of England said price rises were slowing faster than expected. Interest rates were held at 5.25%, already their highest for 15 years, and comes after figures on Wednesday revealed an unexpected slowdown in inflation in August.
Growth in the global economy is expected to remain sub-par next year, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) which cut its forecast for 2024 from 2.9% to 2.7% on Tuesday.
United Kingdom's twelve-month Consumer Prices Index (CPI) reached 10.1% in January against the 10.5% increase recorded in December while missing estimates of a 10.3% print, the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported on Wednesday. The index keeps moving away from its highest level since January 1981 at 11.1% last year.
The United Kingdom's cost of living worsening situation was confirmed by April's inflation rate which soared to a 40-year high of 9% boosted by food and energy prices.
United Kingdom interest rate increases could be “more frequent” than expected if the economy performs as the Bank of England is expecting, governor Mark Carney says. The markets are forecasting just one interest rate increase by 2021.
British annual inflation hit a two-year low point in January, undershooting the Bank of England’s 2.0 per cent target on falling oil and other energy costs, official data showed on Wednesday.
UK inflation climbed in July as had been expected, according to the latest data from the Office of National Statistics, ONS, released on Wednesday. ONS reported that the rate of consumer price inflation, the most-watched measure, increased from 2.4% in June to 2.5% in July, reversing a trend of gradually declining inflation over the course of 2018.
The cost of fuel rose to its highest level in almost four years last month and held up the rate of inflation in the UK, according to the Office for National Statistics.