RT.com
24 Mar 2023, 18:13 GMT+10
Prices for food and non-alcoholic drinks have jumped to the highest level since 1977, official statistics show
Consumer prices in the UK unexpectedly surged in February, driven by soaring food and energy bills, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported on Wednesday.
Annual inflation as measured by the consumer prices index ran to 10.4% last month - exceeding the 9.9% consensus forecast among economists - up from 10.1% in January, placing further pressure on British households.
The ONS attributed the sharp increase to the growing cost of fresh food, non-alcoholic drinks and the rising price of restaurant meals.
"Food and non-alcoholic drink prices rose to their highest rate in over 45 years with particular increases for some salad and vegetable items as high energy costs and bad weather across parts of Europe led to shortages and rationing," ONS chief economist Grant Fitzner said.
Overall inflation for food and non-alcoholic drinks surged to 18%, the highest level since 1977.
The surprise surge in inflation during February followed three consecutive months of slowing price increases, which gave hope that Britain was moving further away from October's 41-year high of 11.1%.
The data comes ahead of the Bank of England's announcement on interest rates on Thursday and is likely to add pressure on the regulator's decision amid an unfolding upheaval in the global banking sector. The UK central bank has been increasing borrowing costs aggressively in an effort to tame inflation.
"Given the market movements of late, this puts the Bank of England in an incredibly difficult position as it may not be enough for [it] to press pause on the rate hikes," Richard Carter, head of fixed interest research at Quilter Cheviot, told Reuters.
Households in the country continue to struggle with soaring food and energy bills, while workers across a range of sectors have launched mass strike action in recent months amid disputes over pay and conditions.
For more stories on economy & finance visit RT's business section
(RT.com)
Get a daily dose of Germany Sun news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Germany Sun.
More InformationDUBLIN, Ireland: Ireland has set a record as unemployment fell to 3.8 percent in May, according to the Central Statistics ...
WARSAW, Poland: Plans are underway in Poland to gradually raise the minimum wage twice in 2024. The wage plan has ...
DUBLIN, Ireland: Ireland's homeowners and businesses expect to see still more reductions in the cost of natural gas as the ...
BEIJING, June 2 (Xinhua) -- The following are the central parity rates of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, ...
© Provided by Xinhua A debt default by the United States would have a catastrophic knock-on effect around the world, ...
NEW YORK, June 1 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. dollar suffered substantial losses on Thursday as disappointing economic data in the ...
DUBLIN, Ireland: Ireland has set a record as unemployment fell to 3.8 percent in May, according to the Central Statistics ...
PORTLAND, Maine: Fishermen in the US's only commercial-scale fishing industry for valuable baby eels, called elvers, have recorded a productive ...
WARSAW, Poland: Plans are underway in Poland to gradually raise the minimum wage twice in 2024. The wage plan has ...
BEIJING, China: China will put into commercial operation its first large passenger airliner, in a bid to challenge western plane ...
DUBLIN, Ireland: Ireland's homeowners and businesses expect to see still more reductions in the cost of natural gas as the ...
SAN FRANCISCO, California: Sam Altman, CEO of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, has said the company could consider leaving Europe if it could ...