Such has been the deteriorating economic picture over the last six months that today’s headline rate of inflation — 9.1 per cent — can be placed in the “not as bad as feared” box. Yet it still means prices are rising at their highest rate for 40 years, and material conditions are going to get worse before they get better.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) points to the soaring cost of food, energy and fuel as the driving force behind inflation, as the impact of the pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and our own policy choices feed into price increases.
