Inflation more than twice official target at 4.4%

by Richard Kilner

Story link: Inflation more than twice official target at 4.4%

Inflation continues to rise beyond the desired level.

The Bank of England is tasked with keeping inflation as close as is possible to the government target of 2% (according to the Consumer Prices Index, or CPI, measure).

However, today the CPI rate was revealed to have leapt from 3.8% to 4.4% last month.

Petrol prices and the increasing cost of food have helped fuel inflation, with food prices up by more than 13% in the last month alone.

The large rise of 0.6% means that inflation is officially more than double the government’s target, and increases the pressure on the Bank of England to change interest rates in a bid to restrain inflation.

The Retail Prices Index (RPI) also rose, though by a somewhat smaller margin, increasing by 0.4% from 4.6% to 5% last month.

The increase in RPI is not the official rate but is nevertheless important as it is frequently made use of by employers and employees during wage negotiations.