U.K. inflation falls for 3rd consecutive month in January

LONDON –

Britain’s inflation price fell for a 3rd consecutive month in January, boosting optimism that the cost-of-living disaster has peaked and costs will fall sharply later this yr.

Inflation eased to 10.1% within the 12 months by January, from 10.5% a month earlier, the Office for National Statistics stated Wednesday. The shopper costs index peaked at 11.1% in October.

The Bank of England forecasts costs will fall quickly within the second half of this yr as vitality prices start to average and worth will increase triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drop out of inflation calculations.

But the figures supply no instant aid to customers squeezed by inflation that continues to be at ranges final seen within the early Eighties. The nation has been gripped by a wave of strikes in latest weeks as public sector staff starting from prepare drivers to academics, nurses and paramedics demand increased wages.

“Another fall in inflation over January suggests that the tide is turning on price pressures,” stated Alpesh Paleja, lead economist for the Confederation of British Industry. “But with inflation and pipeline cost pressures set to remain high this year, households and businesses are likely to feel the pain for a while yet.”

While declines in the price of transportation, clothes and restaurant meals helped push inflation decrease final month, customers are nonetheless battling rising meals and vitality costs.

Food costs rose 16.8% within the yr by January, easing barely from the 16.9% determine reported a month earlier. Housing prices, which embrace fuel and electrical energy, elevated 11.8%.