Food prices rise at fastest rate for 45 years
The cost of living rose more than expected last month due to the rising prices of bread, cereal, and chocolate. Inflation, which measures the rate of price rises, fell to 10.1% in the year to March from 10.4% in February, but it was widely expected to fall below 10%.
Grant Fitzner, chief economist for the ONS, said that globally, food prices were falling but that had not yet led to price cuts.
“There’s been some strong upward movement in food prices and you would expect to see that reflected in supermarkets but we’re not there yet,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme.
Jeremy Hunt said he was still confident that inflation would fall sharply by the end of the year. But Labour’s Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves, says under the Tories, the UK economy is weaker and prices are out of control.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said: “We have a plan and if we’re going to reduce that pressure on families, it’s absolutely essential that we stick to that plan, and we see it through so that we halve inflation this year as the Prime Minister has promised.”
Inflation in the UK remains higher than in other Western countries, including the US, Germany, France and Italy.
Food prices have rapidly risen due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has driven up the prices of grains and vegetable oils.
Rising transport and packaging costs are also making imports more expensive. Food prices are expected to stabilise, but they will remain at a much higher level than they were this time last year.