UK inflation in March at lowest since September 2021

UK consumer prices rose 3.2% year on year in March, the country’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) said, Report informs referring to Interfax.

The consensus forecasts of analysts, cited by Bloomberg and Trading Economics, assumed that this figure would be 3.1%.

Inflation in the UK in March was the lowest since September 2021 and weakened compared to February (3.4%).

On a monthly basis, UK consumer prices rose 0.6%, the same as in February.

Prices excluding the cost of food, alcohol, tobacco and energy (core inflation, CPI Core index) in March increased by 4.2% in annual terms (the minimum since December 2021) and by 0.6% in monthly terms. A month earlier, the first indicator increased by 4.5%, the second - also by 0.6%.

The increase in retail prices (RPI) slowed last month to 4.3% in annual terms from 4.5% in February. This indicator is used by British employers when negotiating salaries. The difference in the dynamics of the CPI and RPI indices is due to the inclusion of housing costs in the RPI, as well as the different weight of air fares, insurance and gasoline prices.

RPI increased by 0.5% compared to February, when an increase of 0.8% was noted.