Inflation stays stubbornly in the double-digits as food prices continue to climb

CPI fell to 10.1% in March, new figures showed.
Food rose by 19.1% – up from 18.0% in February. The fall in prices at the pump a big contributor to last month’s fall.

Danni Hewson AJ Bell head of financial analysis comments on the latest UK inflation figures: “Once again, expectations that UK inflation would finally fall to single digits for the first time since last summer have been dashed.

“The rate that prices are rising has come down a touch but remains stubbornly high at 10.1%, which raises big questions about how much more work the Bank of England has to do.

“Reacting to today’s figures markets are now pricing in at least two further hikes, taking interest rates up to 4.75%, and are split on whether central bankers will need to go even further after that crucial core inflation number remained stubbornly static.

“A cooling breeze has wafted through thanks to the fact that fuel prices have fallen back – remember last year prices at the pump hit record highs as motorists were clobbered by a surge in oil costs after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“But it’s the cost of everyday staples that has thrown a major spanner in the works. Bread and cereal prices have reached record levels and although overall food inflation is at a wincingly high 19.1% every household will have their own unique inflation number to contend with.

“The cost of simply living has crept insidiously higher and wage increases are struggling to keep pace with such high inflation, meaning that for many people there’s a growing amount of month left at the end of money.

“And what’s really important to note is that although the rate of inflation may drop back dramatically later this year as predicted, that doesn’t mean prices as a whole will start falling.

“But we know some prices are coming down. There is a time lag between those prices coming down and the consumer feeling the benefit, but that time lag can’t be dragged out longer than is strictly necessary.

“UK consumers will be utterly fed up with the situation and they’ll be angry that other parts of the world seem to be benefiting from inflation falling much faster. Warnings that some prices, notably food prices, might not yet have peaked will be beyond frustrating to many people.”