Jon Hudson, fund manager of Premier Miton UK Growth fund, said the inflation rate should continue to rise amid high consumer demand post-lockdown and "supply challenges such as higher raw material costs, component shortages and increasing freight charges".
Quilter Investors portfolio manager Paul Craig argued the rise in inflation reflected a "turning point" in the UK's economic reaction to the coronavirus pandemic, with price growth "now on an upward trajectory, and should remain so for some time to come".
He added that inflation may move "markedly higher" if the end of lockdown restrictions leads to a "waterfall" of consumer spending.