LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s consumer price inflation fell by less-than-expected in April, raising fresh doubt about the Bank of England’s plans to cut interest rates in the coming months which would give a boost to embattled Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
British consumer prices rose by an annual 2.3%, down from a 3.2% increase in March and its lowest since July 2021 when it stood at 2.0%, the Office for National Statistics said.
The BoE – which has an inflation target of 2% – and economists polled by Reuters had forecast a bigger drop to 2.1%.
Services inflation, closely watched by the BoE as a gauge of domestically generated price pressure, also came in stronger than expected at 5.9%. The BoE’s forecasts and the Reuters poll had pointed to a reading of 5.5%.
Sterling rose after the data.
(Reporting by Andy Bruce and Suban Abdulla; Editing by Kate Holton)
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