London
Inflation rises again: Consumer prices rose unexpectedly in February from a year earlier, by 10.4%. That is below the 11.1% recent peak in October, but higher than January’s 10.1%. Food and alcohol were the main drivers, with those prices rising by 18.2% over the previous 12 months at the fastest pace in 45 years, “partly due to the recent supply shortages”, says Paul Dales of Capital Economics. “Food inflation will surely soon fall, but at the moment it is still a painful upward influence on inflation that everyone has to bear.”
Annual fuel-price growth, on the other hand, eased from 7.7% in January to 4.6% last month and the “recent fall in the oil price to $75 per barrel means further falls are on the way”. Even so, core inflation, which strips out these volatile prices, rose from 5.8% to 6.2% in February. It all smells a little like the recent US experience, “where it appeared that core inflation was easing rapidly a few months ago
