Soaring food and fuel prices pushed Britain's inflation rate in June to nearly 2 percentage points above the Bank of England's 2 per cent target, official data showed today.
The Office for National Statistics said the consumer price index jumped to a record 3.8 per cent last month from 3.3 per cent in May.
That was the third month in a row that inflation figures have come in above forecasts and the second time in that period that the annual rate has jumped by half a percentage point.
The biggest contribution came from food and non-alcoholic beverages which rose 2.1 per cent on the month and added 0.18 percentage points to the annual inflation rate.
Core inflation, which strips out volatile items such as food and fuel, rose to 1.6 per cent, the highest since last August. That may concern policymakers worried about potential second-round effects from soaring energy costs.
RPI inflation, which forms the basis for most wage deals, jumped to 4.6 per cent, the highest since March 2007.
Reuters