British inflation shot up faster than expected last month to hit a new 30-year high, worsening a historic squeeze on household finances that finance ministeris under pressure to ease in a budget update later on Wednesday. The Office for National Statistics said consumer prices rose by 6.2 per cent in February after a 5.5 per cent rise in January, its highest rate since March 1992. The median forecast in a Reuters poll of economists had pointed to a reading of 5.
The ONS highlighted household energy bills - up almost 25 per cent on a year ago - and petrol as the biggest drivers of February’s price jump. In a blow to poorer households, the ONS said food prices were rising across the board, unlike in normal times when some prices typically go up and others fall.
Mr Sunak will aim to show later today that he is helping Britons through the worst cost-of-living squeeze in decades., chief economist at KPMG UK, said the figures added pressure on the Bank of England to keep on raising interest rates, but she said it was still likely that price growth would peak before long.