16/04/2002

UK inflation rises during March

The Office for National Statistics has said that UK inflation, excluding mortgage repayments, rose by 0.1 per cent to 2.3 per cent in March from the previous month.

The underlying rate of inflation remains under the government's target of 2.5 per cent a year, which the Bank of England is allowed to over or undershoot by a maximum of one percentage point. Meanwhile, inflation including mortgage repayments rose to 1.3 per cent from 1.0 per cent in February.

While most economists forecast that the next change in interest rates will be upwards, further evidence of a build-up in inflationary pressures came on Monday, when the British Retail Consortium said that High Street sales grew at their fastest monthly rate since 1996 in March.

However, much of last month's increase in inflation was caused by higher petrol prices compared to the same period last year. Crude oil prices have surged on world markets in recent weeks as a result of fears that the current Middle East crisis could disrupt supplies. (MB)

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