as you can see here, the rate of inflation in the uk has remained stubbornly high over the last few months adding pressure on the bank of england to raise interest rates again when it meets tomorrow. they re likely to be concerned that core inflation which excludes volatile food and energy prices actually rose hitting 7.1%. that s the highest rate since march 1992. bear in mind, the bank of england s target for inflation is 2% and its been falling in other countries. here s the uk finance ministerjeremy hunt. we don t have the clip at the moment. yael selfin is chief uk economist at the business consultancy kpmg and joins us from london. we heard from jeremy hunt earlier and he said it is a surprise, and it is one of their targets to get inflation down, but it is proving to be harder to do and easier to say. it is proving tricky and there are a number of reasons, one of which is we have a very tight labour market, tighter than in other economies, especially in europe,
As you can see here, the rate of inflation in the uk has remained stubbornly high over the last few months adding pressure on the bank of england to raise interest rates again when it meets tomorrow. they re likely to be concerned that core inflation which excludes volatile food and energy prices actually rose hitting 7.1%. that s the highest rate since march 1992. bear in mind, the bank of england s target for inflation is 2% and its been falling in other countries. here s the uk finance ministerjeremy hunt. we don t have the clip at the moment. yael selfin is chief uk economist at the business consultancy kpmg and joins us from london. we heard from jeremy hunt earlier
And energy bills. the figure is more than double the bank of england s target for inflation. the last time inflation was higher was in march 1992, when it stood at 7.1%. our consumer affairs correspondent colletta smith has more. getting energy prices down and there is more pain to come. 0fgem are meeting soon and they will be giving a reassessment of the energy price cap, which will be changed in april. many are predicting prices to go up by 50%, around £60 extra per month on average for people. there is a lot more pain to come as well and it is notjust energy. the merchant food. for example, margarine went up 27%. so there are some pics what are
More on this from pauljohnson from the iss. good to have you with us. this is highest number since march 1992. how much i do think it will get, and how painful could it be for how many households out there? well. how many households out there? well, if nothin: is how many households out there? well, if nothing is done how many households out there? well, if nothing is done to how many households out there? well, if nothing is done to change the price if nothing is done to change the price cap, if nothing is done to change the price cap, then it will certainly go above price cap, then it will certainly go above six. price cap, then it will certainly go above six, and as you say it could even above six, and as you say it could even stretch above six, and as you say it could even stretch to 7% in april. this is clearly even stretch to 7% in april. this is clearly going to be pretty difficult for certain groups of households, and also for certain groups of households, an
Marc, thank you very much. now, in december, inflation rose to 5.4%, up from 5.1% the previous month, that is a 12 month comparison, so 5.1 in the year until november and 5.4 in the year to december. that 5.4% figure is the highest since march 1992. food, clothing and household goods also rose, the bank of england indicates inflation hitting 6% by april. that is also the month in which the energy cap will be revised to reflect the spike in wholesale gas prices. simon, how painful is this going to get, do you think? it is awful, actually. i think that for all this political chicanery- we are seeing, there is nothingj more difficult for a government when its citizens are actually i getting a bit poorer every day, because the cost i of living is going up faster than their wages. there is no evidence thatj i have seen, from talking to a lot of industry, that this has got. any short term fix.