Inflation fell to 3.6 per cent in October, in a pre-Budget boost to Rachel Reeves – as well as to consumers and businesses.
The latest update from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation dropping from September, when it surprisingly held at 3.8 per cent. That has led to most analysts to declare inflation has peaked across the UK.
Some economists were expecting CPI to fall to as low as 3.5 per cent last month, and while that has not quite transpired, the downturn in price growth will be cause for relief for households and firms which have had to deal with constant price pressures and uncertainty this year.
The anticipated fall was “primarily based off last year’s big increase in energy prices dropping out of the annual comparison”, explained RSM UK’s chief economist Thomas Pugh, as well as continued slowdown in food price inflation.
It comes just a week before the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, presents the Budget in which it is expected a raft of tax increases will be unveiled.
More to follow…
