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The UK inflation rate raced to 9.4% in June, figures on Wednesday showed, beating market forecasts and hitting a series high.
The annual pace of price increases accelerated from 9.1% in May and also topped FXStreet-cited market consensus of 9.3%.
According to the Office for National Statistics, the June reading was the hottest annual inflation rate in its latest series, which began in 1997. Inflation was last this high in 1982, the ONS added.
A year earlier, the inflation rate was 2.5%. There has been an acceleration in annual inflation every month since last October.
On a monthly basis, consumer prices rose 0.8% in June, picking up pace from 0.7% in May.
Meanwhile, factory gate inflation also hotted up.
Producer input prices surged 24% annually in June, accelerating from 22% in May and setting the highest figure since records began in January 1985.
Producer output prices rose 17% yearly in June, picking up from 16% in May. June's annual inflation figure was the highest rate since September 1977.
The latest inflation readings put the Bank of England under the spotlight.
Governor Andrew Bailey on Tuesday mooted a possible 50 basis point interest rate hike next month.
At the annual Mansion House speech in the City of London on Tuesday, Bailey said a 50 basis point rise from 1.25% to 1.75% would be one of the options for the Monetary Policy Committee.
So far, the UK central bank has opted for smaller interest rate rises, although some of the MPC members have argued for quicker rate rises.
‘A 50 basis point increase will be among the choices on the table when we next meet,’ Bailey said, adding: ‘50 basis points is not locked in, and anyone who predicts that is doing so based on their own view.’
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