UK Inflation Rate Down Again - 2.5% in March

18th April 2018

The Office for Natioanl Statistics today (18 April 2018) released the inflation figures for March 2018.

Main points

The Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers' housing costs (CPIH) 12-month inflation rate was 2.3% in March 2018, down from 2.5% in February 2018.

Since reaching a recent high of 2.8% towards the end of 2017, the rate has fallen back to its lowest since March 2017.

The largest downward contribution to the change in the rate between February 2018 and March 2018 came from prices for clothing and footwear rising by less than they did a year ago, with the effect coming mainly from a range of items of women's clothing.

Price movements for alcoholic drinks and tobacco also made a downward contribution to the change in the rate; this in part reflects changes to the Budget cycle that were introduced in 2017, with tax changes for tobacco being announced in November 2017 instead of March 2018.

The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) 12-month rate was 2.5% in March 2018, down from 2.7% in February 2018.

The Bank of England is due to announce its interest rate on 10th May 2018. It had been expected that the rate might increase by half of one percent and speculation is that this will still happen albeit the decision is made more difficult by the unexpectedly low inflation figure for March.