Fakoyejo Olalekan
The Office for National Statistics in the United Kingdom revealed that UK inflation rate hit 10.1% in July, the same month Nigeria recorded 19.64% rate, with food prices rising in both countries.
While Nigeria’s inflation rate is the highest in 17 years, having risen from June’s 18.6%, that of UK is a 40 year high, rising from 9.4% rate the UK Statistics body had disclosed two months ago.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelJust like the African country, the UK Statistics group said the country is being affected by rise in food inflation, and the rate could hit 13.3% in the fourth quarter of this year, spelling more price crisis for the European nation.
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Analysts at Reuters had projected that the rate will increase to 9.8%, but it shattered the ceiling to post the highest double digit since 1982, with core inflation also fueling the upward movement.
Core inflation, which excludes energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, was grew from 5.8% to close July with 6.2 percent, pushing the economy of the United Kingdom closer to recession.
In a bid to slow the rate inflation rises, the Bank of England had broken a 27 year history to raise its monetary policy rate by 0.50 percentage points to 1.75% in the first half of this year.
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But that historic rate hike hasn’t have an immediate impact yet, considering inflation rate surpassed the projection of analysts in the first month of the second half of this year.
The Bank of England have already informed citizens to prepare for economic recession next year, “The squeeze on households’ incomes due to the rise in energy prices has led to slower growth in the UK economy. We expect the size of the UK economy to fall over the next year.”
Prime Business Africa had reported that the governor of the bank, Andrew Bailey, said, “I recognise the significant impact this will have and how difficult the cost-of-living challenge will continue to be for many people in the United Kingdom.”
