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UK consumer prices soared to a 30-year high in March, data from the Office for National Statistics showed Wednesday.
The UK consumer prices index rose by 7.0% in the 12 months to March 2022, advancing from February's 6.2% rise.
Wednesday's print is the highest 12-month inflation rate in the National Statistics series, which began in January 1997. It is also the highest rate in the historic modelled series since March 1992.
The market consensus - according to FXStreet - had tipped for a 6.7% rise.
Core inflation, which strips out energy, food and alcohol, accelerated to 5.7% from 5.2%, hitting a 30-year high. Market consensus put the rise at 5.4%.
On a monthly basis, CPI rose by 1.1% in March, picking up from the 0.8% increase seen in February.
‘Broad-based price rises saw annual inflation increase sharply again in March. Amongst the largest increases were petrol costs, with prices mostly collected before the recent cut in fuel duty, and furniture,’ said Grant Fitzner, ONS chief economist.
‘Restaurants and hotel prices also rose steeply in March while, after falling a year ago, there were rises across a number of different types of food.’
Myron Jobson, senior personal finance analyst at Interactive Investor, said that while energy prices were the driver behind March's sky-high inflation reading, ‘we are paying more for everything’.
‘Supply shortages and production bottlenecks owing to the pandemic have forced firms to raise their prices of late. Russia's devastating invasion of Ukraine has made the outlook for inflation worse. The Bank of England predicts that inflation could reach double figures by the end of the year because of the shock from energy and commodity prices which have hit the UK following the conflict,’ Jobson said.
Turning to producer prices, the annual headline rate of input prices jumped 19% in March, ticking up from 15% in February - accelerating at the fastest rate since records began.
On the month, the rate of output inflation was 2.0% in March, faster than February's 0.9% growth and hitting a level not seen since May 2008.
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