Category Archives: Inflation

UK food inflation falls in May, raising hopes prices may have peaked

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British Retail Consortium says rate fell from 15.7% to 15.4% even as rise in overall shop prices hits fresh high

Food inflation in the UK fell in May, lifting hopes that the rapid increase in grocery prices may have reached its peak after keeping the broader consumer prices index painfully high so far this year.

After more than a year of sharp increases in the price of food, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said annual food inflation eased this month from 15.7% to 15.4%, even as the overall rise in shop prices hits a fresh high.

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‘Shops will close’: soaring cost of potatoes batters British chippies

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The once humble, low-cost staple more than doubles in price, putting many fish and chip shops at risk

Whether it’s fried, baked or mashed, potatoes have traditionally been a low-cost staple food in the UK – but not any more.

A surge in costs is clobbering high street chippies, while in the supermarket, oven chips and the once humble baking potato are casualties of soaring grocery prices.

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Rishi Sunak warned over possible UK recession in 2024

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High inflation likely to push interest rates above 5% and force up mortgage and loan payments just ahead of election

Rishi Sunak has been warned the UK economy could be in recession next year as stubbornly high inflation pushes interest rates to more than 5% before the next general election.

Setting the stage for a further rise in borrowing costs on mortgages and loans for millions of households, economists predicted the Bank of England could be forced to drive Britain’s economy into a recession to tame inflation.

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UK homeowners and first-time buyers warned to brace for 5%-plus mortgage rates

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Lenders forced to raise fixed-term deals after latest inflation figure pushed swap rates upwards

Households looking for a new mortgage deal have been warned to expect 5%-plus fixed-rate deals in the coming weeks, after Wednesday’s inflation figures sent the money markets back into turmoil.

Nick Mendes, the mortgage technical manager at the broker John Charcol, said on Thursday that he doubts that there will be any two-year fixed-rate mortgages and probably few five-year deals priced at less than 5% in the coming weeks, as lenders are forced to reprice their mortgages upwards.

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Australia should increase competition to fight ‘excessive pricing’ by supermarkets, Rod Sims says

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Former regulator head’s comments follow Guardian Australia analysis which shows Coles and Woolworths increased profit margins during cost-of-living crisis

The former competition watchdog head Rod Sims says Australia’s big supermarkets have likely used their market power to increase prices higher than necessary during a cost-of-living crisis and that the government should consider reforming merger laws to limit their dominance.

Sims, who retired as the chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) last year, said Coles and Woolworths have little to worry about when making pricing decisions because they control two-thirds of the market.

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No 10 food summit ‘no more than a PR stunt’ and failed to tackle key issues

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Rishi Sunak’s Farm to Fork meeting, the first of its kind, failed to address solutions to inflation, soaring costs and food security, say attenders

Rishi Sunak’s Downing Street food summit has been described as “empty" by food and farming industry representatives, who rounded on the prime minister for failing to discuss soaring inflation or set out measures to safeguard British food production.

The Farm to Fork summit, the first meeting of its kind, brought together farmers, food producers and some of Britain’s largest supermarkets.

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Sainsbury’s and Unilever deny claims of profiteering in cost of living crisis

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Supermarket chain and consumer goods company insist they are protecting shoppers from inflation surge

Sainsbury’s and the Marmite maker Unilever have both insisted they are protecting shoppers from inflation, amid accusations that some companies are profiteering from the cost of living crisis.

“We are not profiteering in any form,” the chief executive of Unilever, Alan Jope, said as the consumer goods company insisted it was only passing on three-quarters of its increased costs to customers.

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Australia news live: student debt ‘avalanche’ a sign loan system is broken, Faruqi says; drowning death at Victoria beach

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Follow live

The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, is this morning committing to $260m to Australia’s national parks to address problems after “a decade of neglect”.

Plibersek is telling ABC News some parks have become unsafe:

What we’ve seen in our national parks, feral animals, invasive weeds, despite the best efforts of our rangers and staff, they just haven’t been able to keep up with the demand in our parks.

They’ve actually become unsafe. One of the worst examples I heard was broken and missing crocodile signs in Kakadu national park.

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RBA review has ‘opened the door’ to moving away from inflation focus, panellist says

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Renee Fry-McKibbin says panel considered ‘a lot of alternative frameworks’ but decision on shift would fall to future reviews

The review of the Reserve Bank of Australia has “opened the door” for a potential shift away from targeting inflation using interest rates, one of the review panellists says.

Renee Fry-McKibbin told an event on Monday that the panellists had examined “a lot of alternative frameworks” but it would fall to future reviews to discuss ditching the bank’s current goal of aiming to keep inflation between 2% and 3%.

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Bank of England predicted to raise interest rates one more time in May

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Increase to 4.5% will be last rise in current cycle, former rate-setter Michael Saunders predicts

The Bank of England is likely to increase interest rates one more time in May, to 4.5%, before inflation falls “sharply” over the rest of the year, a former rate-setter has predicted.

Michael Saunders, who was a member of the monetary policy committee until August, said the UK was nearly at a “turning point” for interest rates, which have risen sharply over the past year as policymakers tried to curb a surge in prices caused by an increase in energy costs.

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Australia news live: seizure of $270m worth of heroin is Queensland’s biggest; RBA interest rates decision due

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Australians will find out at 2.30pm AEST whether the Reserve Bank will pause its interest rates hikes after 10 consecutive rises. Follow the day’s news live

Australia’s new high commissioner to the UK, Stephen Smith, says becoming a republic is “inevitable” even if Australians are proud to have the British monarch as their head of state.

In his first interview since taking up the post, Smith told the Times newspaper that most British people would be “indifferent” to Australia getting rid of the monarchy and it would not damage the countries’ relationship.

There is a lot of affection and respect for the monarchy in Australia.

That affection and respect hasn’t gone away because of Australia contemplating from time to time what it should do about its constitutional arrangements.

My personal view is it’s inevitable. But how that’s progressed is entirely a matter for the Australian government of the day.

Our public-sector workers do a great job serving their fellow Victorians and we’re proud to support them. In addition to wage increases, workers will be able to obtain a sign-on bonus while productivity improvements will bring the potential for further advancement of conditions.

The policy provides fair outcomes for employees while being responsible as we deal with the types of budget challenges faced by families, businesses and governments across the world.

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Australia politics live: rate rises must stop with inflation coming down, Greens say; Brereton named anti-corruption commissioner

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Commission appointments must be signed off by the governor general. Follow live

Sorry – I am told by a couple of senators that it was “technically” 4.13am.

So expect to see a few bleary-eyed senators in the coffee lines this morning.

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Wetherspoon’s boss: hospitality holding off price rises could be ‘catastrophic’

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Tim Martin says Bank of England is right to ask firms to be mindful but advice should not be taken too literally

The boss of JD Wetherspoon has warned it could be “catastrophic” for pubs and restaurants to hold off raising prices as costs continue to soar, as the pub chain revealed that the “ferocious” impact of inflation has fuelled a dramatic increase in its bills.

Tim Martin said that Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, was right to warn companies to be mindful of how much they put up prices to avoid continuing to fuel an inflationary cycle, after the headline annual rate unexpectedly rose to 10.4% last month.

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Australia politics live: government and opposition strike agreement over voice referendum machinery changes

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Bipartisan approach likely as Senate addresses changes to the rules governing referendums. Follow the day’s news live

Voice negotiations

The referendum machinery legislation will set up how the voice referendum will run – the machinery surruounding the vote, if you will.

We’re negotiating in good faith in the Senate that’s being led by Jane Hume who is doing an outstanding job. What we said to the government in the beginning is what we’re saying to them now and that is that we are not prepared to trash decades of referendum precedent, and not do this in a way that Australians expect us to, in their interests, for their information.

We’re asking for a pamphlet to outline the yes and no case, and we’ve talked about that. We’re asking for equal funding of the yes or no case, not the millions of dollars that may go into a public campaign on either side of this debate, but just the administration funding.

Fifty-seven per cent of the population does not want to open new coal and gas mines and I think there’s a very clear message coming through there. Secondly, no, I have got a lot of time for Jacqui Lambie, but we had an emissions trading scheme in this country and she was part of a party that voted to repeal it so let’s let’s not get too carried away with the spin here.

We’re in a climate crisis, as the UN secretary general has made clear. The decisions that we make now will reverberate for generations to come and the big decisions that we’ve got to make, do we open new coal and gas mines or not?

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Argentina’s inflation rate soars past 100%, its worst in over 30 years

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Annual rate of 102.5% is denting purchasing power, savings, economic growth and government’s chances in elections next year

Argentina’s annual inflation rate tore past 100% in February, the country’s statistics agency announced, the first time it has hit triple figures since a period of hyperinflation in 1991, over three decades ago.

Inflation over 12 months clocked in at 102.5% in the second month of the year, according to government data released on Tuesday, with a higher-than-expected 6.6% monthly rise in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), and a 13.1% year-to-date increase.

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ECB looking out for price gouging as fears grow over ‘greedflation’

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Concerns that a big driver of price rises may be firms using inflation as excuse to increase profit margins

Fears that Europe’s companies are exploiting high inflation to increase their profit margins have prompted a warning from the European Central Bank that it is closely monitoring potential price gouging of consumers.

Policymakers have repeatedly called for wage restraint but concerns are mounting that a bigger driver of the wave of price rises may be companies using inflation as an excuse to increase profit margins, a trend unions have described as “greedflation”.

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UK cuts back on cooking Sunday roasts as energy bills soar

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Cost of living has made more than a third of adults reconsider cooking end of week meal, survey finds

More than a third of people in the UK have cut back on cooking Sunday roasts because of the soaring cost of energy bills, according to a survey.

A total of 36% of UK adults said the cost of living crisis had made them reconsider a homemade roast dinner at the end of the week. The figure was even higher among those aged 16 to 34, with nearly half (47%) saying they have avoided cookingroasts.

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US Federal Reserve’s key inflation gauge ticks up in January

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Consumer prices rose 0.6% from December to January, up sharply from a 0.2% increase from November to December

The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge ticked higher in January, a sign that price pressures remain entrenched in the US economy and could lead the Fed to keep raising interest rates well into this year.

Friday’s report from the commerce department showed that consumer prices rose 0.6% from December to January, up sharply from a 0.2% increase from November to December. On a year-over-year basis, prices rose 5.4%, up from a 5.3% annual increase in December.

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UK inflation could fall below 2%, Citi forecasts

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Falling gas prices and CPI decline could boost public finances before 2024 general election

Britain’s inflation rate could fall to below 2% by the end of the year, according to new financial industry forecasts, handing the chancellor a boost to the public finances before a general election in 2024.

Predictions that falling gas prices will accelerate the decline this year in the consumer prices index (CPI) from last month’s level of 10.1% could also support a recovery in household living standards and persuade the Bank of England to cut interest rates earlier than expected.

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Wage growth surprise: slower-than-expected gain eases RBA rate rise fears

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December quarter wage index rose from 3.1% to 3.3%, but 7.8% inflation indicates a 4.5% decrease in real wages

Australian salaries increased at a faster pace in the December quarter in a tight labour market, but not enough to prevent the gap with inflation widening to a record level.

The wage price index (WPI) for the final three months of 2022 came in at 3.3%, an increase on the 3.1% pace in the September quarter and the highest since the end of 2012. Economists had forecast a 3.5% increase.

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