Become a Member
  • Track your favourite stocks
  • Create & monitor portfolios
  • Daily portfolio value
Sign Up
Quickpicks
Add shares to your
quickpicks to
display them here!

UK consumer price inflation rate tops forecast and picks up to 3.5%

21st May 2025 07:19

(Alliance News) - UK consumer price inflation was hotter-than-expected last month, spiking to the loftiest level since the start of last year, numbers from the Office for National Statistics showed Wednesday.

The pace of annual consumer price inflation accelerated to 3.5% in April, from 2.6% in March, topping the FXStreet cited consensus of 3.3%. The last time the rate of inflation was higher was back in January 2024, when it stood at 4.0%.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices shot up 1.2% in April, after a 0.3% hike in March.

The ONS said the on-year consumer price inflation surge was driven by "housing and household services, transport, and recreation and culture".

It said overall prices in transport were up 3.3% on-year in April, an acceleration from 1.2% in March. The ONS said airfare prices were higher due to the Easter holidays.

Service price inflation picked up to 5.4% in April, from 4.7% in March.

Excluding energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, the annual core consumer price inflation rate was 3.8% in April, quickening from 3.4% in March.

By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editor

Comments and questions to [email protected]

Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

FTSE 100 Latest
Value8,787.22
Change6.10