Bad news for the British. Food prices block the decline in inflation

The British Statistical Office published data that worried not only market analysts, but also British citizens. We are talking about the inflation rate for April.

inflation in the UK. Fall below expected

According to the latest data, inflation in the UK in April was 8.7%. This is definitely more than market consensus. Analysts had expected the figure to be 8.2 percent. It is true that this is a decrease on a monthly basis, but less than expected. In March, prices for goods and services in the UK rose by 10.1 percent. compared to the same period last year.

As British Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt admitted in an interview with the BBC, the fight against inflation is not over yet. “We still have a long way to go,” he said, adding that the numbers hide specific problems that are not visible at first glance.

Food stays expensive

The chancellor was referring to the fact that food still occupies a very high place in the consumer basket. Although energy prices, which affect all citizens, have begun to fall, food remains a problem.

Among the most expensive products were: sugar, the price of which increased by almost 50 percent, cheese and eggs by almost 40 percent, milk, potatoes and bread by almost 30 percent. Poultry meat also rose in price by a quarter compared to last year.

All this has a very strong effect, first of all, on the less well-off Britons, for whom food costs make up a significant part of the monthly household budget. The rulers point out that the problem of expensive products is mainly related to the war in Ukraine. These are mainly problems with the supply of grain, but there are other aspects, for example, the collapse of supply chains.