Rising Fuel Costs Drive Inflation To Five-Month High

The rising costs of fuel, coupled with increases in airfares, helped to push UK inflation to a five-month high during November, according to figures released today by the Office for National statistics.

According to the ONS, the consumer prices index was up by 0.3% in November to 1.5 compared with 1.2 in October. Meanwhile the underlying rate of RPI inflation, which includes mortgage interest repayments, rose by 0.1% to 2.2% last month.

According to the ONS, November’s CPI was affected mainly by air fares which were not reduced by as much as had been expected, as well as a further increase in petrol prices during the month.

While the increase in the CPI means that inflation remains under the Government’s self-set targets, some analysts have suggested that the Bank of England may now look closely at interest rates.

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