UK June inflation rate lower than expected at 7.9%

People shop at a market stalls in east London, Britain, Jan 23, 2021. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls/File photo

LONDON  – British annual consumer price inflation fell to a lower than expected 7.9 percent in June, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed on Wednesday.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast that the CPI rate in the 12 months to June would drop to 8.2 percent from May’s 8.7 percent, moving further away from October’s 41-year high of 11.1 percent but still far above the Bank of England’s 2 percent target.

The BoE said in May it expected inflation in June would fall to 7.9 percent.

Core inflation – a measure which excludes food, energy, alcohol and tobacco prices and which the BoE watches closely to gauge underlying price pressures – also dropped by more than expected, coming in at 6.9 percent from May’s 7.1 percent, its joint highest in more than 30 years.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected the core measure of price growth to hold at 7.1 percent.

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