On November 20, 2024, London, England, the columns of the Royal Exchange, the bank in the City of London, the capital’s financial district, were decorated for Christmas.
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LONDON – Britain’s inflation rate rose to 2.6% in November, the Office for National Statistics said on Wednesday, marking the second consecutive month the headline figure has risen.
The data was in line with forecasts by economists polled by Reuters and was up from 2.3% in October.
Core inflation, which excludes energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, was 3.5%, slightly below the 3.6% forecast by Reuters.
Overall price growth hit a three-and-a-half-year low of 1.7% in September but is expected to rise further in coming months, partly due to regulators raising energy price caps this winter.
“This upward trend appears set to continue in the coming months,” Joe Nellis, economic adviser at accounting firm MHA, said in emailed comments on Wednesday, citing energy markets and “domestic Chronic pressures from tight labor markets.”
Persistent inflation in the services sector, the dominant part of the British economy, has led money markets to predict little chance of a rate cut by the Bank of England at its final meeting of the year on Thursday. Earlier this week, the ONS reported that the bets had been confirmed Normal wage growth strengthens It rose to 5.2% in the August-October period, up from 4.9% in the July-September period.
November data showed services inflation remained unchanged at 5%.
If the Bank of England keeps monetary policy unchanged in December, it will cut the key interest rate only twice by the end of the year, from 5.25% to 4.75%. The European Central Bank also issued cut four percentage points and this month Shows firm willingness to cut interest rates next year.
The Federal Reserve is Rate cuts widely expected The quarter-percentage point cut at Wednesday’s meeting brings this year’s total reduction to a full one-percentage point. some doubts There is hesitancy to take this step given inflationary pressures.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated soon.
