UK Inflation Hits Its Highest In 30 years

The United Kingdom’s inflation has hit its highest in 30 years.

Gatekeepers News reports that British’s inflation rate grew at its highest annual rate in over 30 years, putting more pressure on consumers.

The hike in consumer prices has also increased the chances that the Bank of England would increase the interest rates for the third time in a row.

According to Reuters, the annual rate of consumer price inflation hit 5.5% in January, the highest level since March 1992, when Britain was emerging from a long period of inflation-feeding high wage agreements.

Earlier this month, the Bank of England predicted that inflation would peak at roughly 7.25 percent in April when household energy expenses are expected to increase by more than half.

Meanwhile, the United Kingdom is not alone in experiencing a substantial loss of purchasing power as the United States reached a 40-year high of 7.5% consumer price inflation in January, while inflation in the eurozone reached a new high of 5.1%.

The Bank of England has hiked its interest rates twice since December (0.5% from 0.1%), the same applies to the financial markets forecast on March 17 – 0.75% or 1%.

Clothing and footwear costs rose by a record 6.3% annually, adding 0.2% points to the CPI rate, while food and beverage prices increased by 4.3%, the most since April 2013.

According to the Office for National Statistics, the rise in inflation in January was due to less holiday discounting by merchants than a year ago.

Remi Ibikunle