UK inflation increased to a 30-year high in February this year, the country’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported Wednesday.
The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) increased by 6.2 percent on a 12-month basis, outstripping January’s 5.5 percent increase, which itself had been a 30-year record. Prices have now increased at their fastest level since 1992.
High inflation will put household budgets under pressure as Britons face higher costs for goods and services.
February’s inflation was higher than experts had previously predicted, helping to illustrate the scale of the cost of living squeeze the country is facing.
The increase was fuelled by sky-high commodity prices. Prices for gas, electricity, and petrol all increased significantly as the global supply chain faces challenges. Oil prices, for instance, have been surging since the start of the year as supply has failed to keep up with resurgent post-Covid-19 demand. Little comfort is in sight for energy prices, with Russia’s war in Ukraine putting prices further under pressure.
“Inflation rose steeply in February as prices increased for a wide range of goods and services, fore products as diverse as food to toys and games,” Grant Fitzner, chief economist at ONS said.
“Clothing and footwear saw a return to traditional February price rises after last year’s falls when many shops were closed,” he added.
In addition, Fitzner explained that furniture and flooring had also contributed to rising inflation with prices beginning to recover following new year sales.
“The price of good leaving UK factories has also been rising substantially and is now at its highest rate for 14 years,” he concluded.
In a bid to combat rising inflation, the Bank of England (above) has already taken to raising interest rates three times since December last year. The central bank’s interest rate currently stands at 0.75 percent, its highest level since March 2020, but the bank could raise its rate higher to try and reduce inflationary pressure.
The Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers’ housing costs (CPIH), a measure used by the ONS to include the costs associated with owning, maintaining and living in a homeowner’s own home, increased 5.5 percent in February, the authority said, up from 4.9 percent in January.
“The largest upward contributions to the February 2022 CPIH 12-month inflation rate came from housing and household services (1.39 percentage points, principally from electricity, gas and other fuels, and owner occupiers’ housing costs) and transport (1.26 percentage points, principally from motor fuels and second-hand cars),” ONS said in its research note.
The authority said that, “There were no large offsetting downward contributions to change.”
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