A customer shops in the poultry aisle inside a supermarket, in Richmond, West London, Britain February 21, 2024. REUTERS
LONDON, Feb 18 (Reuters) – Britain’s annual rate of consumer price inflation fell to 3.0% in January from 3.4% in December, official figures showed on Wednesday.
A Reuters poll of economists had shown a median forecast of 3.0% in January and the Bank of England projected earlier this month that the headline measure of inflation would slow to 2.9%.
British inflation has run higher than in the United States and in the euro zone where it stood at 2.4% and 1.7% respectively in January.
But the BoE expects the pace of price rises to slow sharply to almost its 2% target in April as last year’s rises in utility costs and other government-controlled tariffs fall out of the annual comparison.
Investors expect the central bank to cut its benchmark interest rate to 3.5% at its next meeting in March after a tight vote to keep borrowing costs on hold in February although some policymakers remain worried about underlying inflation pressure.
Financial markets on Tuesday also priced a second quarter-point interest rate cut by the BoE by the end of in 2026.
ONS data last week painted a downbeat picture of Britain’s economy at the end of 2025 with output barely growing. Figures released on Tuesday showed the labour market was still losing jobs although there were some signs of a stabilisation.
Reporting by Suban Abdulla; Editing by Muvija M
