UK inflation rate hits 40-year high at 9%

Inflation rate in the United Kingdom jumped in the last 12 months to 9 per cent in April — up from 7 per cent in March.

The surge came as the UK’s cap on energy prices increased £700-a-year in the previous month, driven by a record rise in global gas prices.

The UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) said this on Wednesday in its latest consumer price inflation (CPI) report.

On a monthly basis, the report said CPI rose by 2.5 per cent in April 2022, compared with a rise of 0.6 per cent in April 2021. 

According to ONS, this is the highest recorded rate in the constructed historical series, which began in January 1989. 

“This is also the largest increase in the annual rate in either the National Statistics series or the earlier constructed series, which goes back to January 1989,” it added. 

“However, there was a larger fall of 2.4 percentage points in April 1992, when the 12-month rate was 4.7%.”

ONS said around three-quarters of the rise in inflation in April came from higher electricity and gas bills. 

It added that the price of food, transport and machinery also pushed prices higher.

ONS said all items on the menus of restaurants and cafes had increased, due to the value-added tax (VAT) rate for hospitality surging to 20 per cent in April after being slashed to 12.5 per cent to aid businesses recovering from the coronavirus pandemic.

Meanwhile, average petrol prices stood at £1.62 per litre in April 2022, the highest recorded by the ONS, compared with £1.26 per litre a year earlier.