United Kingdom’s Inflation Surges to 30-year High of 6.2℅
According to official estimates, rising prices across the board pushed inflation in the United Kingdom to a new 30-year high in February, as the cost-of-living problem worsened.
On Wednesday, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation increased to 6.2 percent in February, up from 5.5 percent in January and returning to its highest level since March 1992, when it was 7.1 percent.
According to official estimates, rising prices across the board pushed inflation in the United Kingdom to a new 30-year high in February, as the cost-of-living problem worsened.
On Wednesday, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation increased to 6.2 percent in February, up from 5.5 percent in January and returning to its highest level since March 1992, when it was 7.1 percent.
The increase was more than predicted, and it follows price increases in food, apparel, and footwear, as well as a variety of other goods and services.
According to the ONS, inflation increased in 10 of the 12 categories that make up the index, with communication and education being the only ones that did not.
Experts have warned that costs will climb much more as the Ukraine crisis exacerbates already-high inflation, exacerbating severe price increases in energy, gasoline, commodities, and food.
An increase in the energy price ceiling, the proposed reversal of a hospitality VAT decrease, and a rise in national insurance tax are all expected to exacerbate the crisis that British consumers are suffering.
The Bank of England boosted interest rates to 0.75 percent from 0.5 percent last week, warning that inflation will now peak at around 8% in April — and might reach double digits if wholesale energy costs continue to rise during the Ukraine conflict.
The Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem), the UK government regulator, will hike the energy price ceiling by 54 percent in April, with a second rise predicted in October, perhaps by as much as 50 percent, due to the impact of Ukraine on gas prices, Report: Aljazeera.
