Chancellor Rachel Reeves said “there’s more to do” after the latest inflation figures were slightly lower than the official-but-incorrect April data.<\/p>\n
Economists’ attention will move to tomorrow’s Monetary Policy Committee decision on interest rates after May’s rate of inflation was revealed as 3.4%.<\/p>\n
Technically this was lower than April’s official figure of 3.5%, although unusually the Office for National Statistics had published information about an error in its data which if it had been correct would have resulted in that month’s figure being 3.4%.<\/p>\n
Reeves said: “We took the necessary choices to stabilise the public finances and get inflation under control after the double-digit increases we saw under the previous government, but we know there\u2019s more to do.<\/p>\n
“Last week we extended the \u00a33 bus fare cap, funded free school meals for over half a million more children and are delivering our plans for free breakfast clubs for every child in the country.”<\/p>\n
The Bank of England is expected to keep interest rates at 4.25%, after four quarter-point cuts in the last year, but forecasts currently suggest a change in August is more likely.<\/p>\n
Richard Heys, acting chief economist at the ONS, said: “A variety of counteracting price movements meant inflation was little changed in May.<\/p>\n
“Air fares fell this month, compared with a large rise at the same time last year, as the timing of Easter and school holidays affected pricing. Meanwhile, motor fuel costs also saw a drop.<\/p>\n
“These were partially offset by rising food prices, particularly items such as chocolates and meat products. The cost of furniture and household goods, including fridge freezers and vacuum cleaners, also increased.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Economists’ attention will move to tomorrow’s Monetary Policy Committee decision on interest rates<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":2098913,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[120782],"coauthors":[81],"class_list":["post-2098911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","tag-featured-story","tag-national"],"yoast_head":"\n