The UK’s annual inflation rate slowed to 8.7% in April, from 10.1% in March, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported on Wednesday.
The slowdown in price rises in April was less than expected by the consensus of analysts, who forecast an inflation rate of 8.2%.
The ONS indicated that the deceleration in the annual rate of the CPI reflected downward contributions of 6 of the 12 items, with the greatest contribution to the decline being housing and domestic services, while the greatest upward variation was observed in leisure and culture. .
In the fourth month of 2023, the year-on-year increase in the price of food and non-alcoholic beverages was 19%, just one tenth below the rise of the previous month, while the supply of housing increased by 12.3% year-on-year, after the increase of 26.1% in March.
For its part, the core CPI, which excludes the volatility of energy, food, alcohol and tobacco prices, accelerated to 6.8% in April, six tenths more than in March and the lowest level since March 1992.
In a chained manner, prices increased by 1.2% in the fourth month of the year compared to March, compared to an increase of 2.5% in March compared to the previous month.
At its last meeting, the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee decided to raise the key benchmark rate by 25 basis points to 4.5%, the highest level since autumn 2008, prolonging the sequence of money price increases. to twelve consecutive meetings.
In an analysis, the Bank of England indicated that it expects the inflation rate to “fall sharply from April”, partly due to the base effect of the sharp increases registered a year ago.
Source: TSF
