UK inflation rises to its highest in over year after domestic bills spike

London, May 21 (AP) Inflation in the UK spiked to its highest level for more than a year in April amid a raft of higher domestic bills, such as energy and water, official figures showed Wednesday.

The Office for National Statistics said that its key measure of inflation, as measured by the consumer prices index, rose by 3.5 per cent in the year to April, up from 2.6 per cent in March.

April's rate was the highest since January 2024 and above expectations for a more modest increase to 3.3 per cent.

The scale of the rise was also the largest since October 2022, at the height of the energy crisis in the wake of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Economists had anticipated a sizeable increase as April saw hefty annual price rises for an array of household bills, as well as the impact of higher taxes on businesses and a sizeable increase in the minimum wage.

Inflation is widely expected to stay above 3 per cent for the rest of the year, which could rein in expectations of further interest rate reductions from the Bank of England, whose target for inflation is 2 per cent.

On Tuesday, the bank's chief economist, Huw Pill, said that borrowing rates have been cut too quickly, in a sign that he's concerned about underlying inflation pressures.

Since it started cutting borrowing costs last August from the 16-year high of 5.25 per cent, the bank has proceeded on a gradual basis by lowering its main interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point every three months. Earlier this month, it reduced it to 4.25 per cent.

Following the latest inflation update, Rob Wood, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said that cuts on a “precise quarterly schedule” are “far from certain.” Even though inflation is expected to run above the bank's target this year, economists expect it to fall next year, partly because of the recent trade deal between the US and the UK which will mean many of the tariffs that US President Donald Trump had planned have been ditched. (AP) GRS GRS

Source: PTI