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UK inflation slows sharply to 3.2% because of lower food prices – business live
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Inflation in the UK slowed more than expected last month because of lower food prices.
Inflation, measured by the consumer price index, fell to an annual rate of 3.2% in November, from 3.6% in December, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The core rate, which strips out volatile food and energy costs, dropped to 3.2% from 3.4%.
Grant Fitzner, the ONS chief economist, said:
Inflation fell notably in November to its lowest annual rate since March. Lower food prices, which traditionally rise at this time of the year, were the main driver of the fall with decreases seen particularly for cakes, biscuits, and breakfast cereals,
Jim Ratcliffe’s chemicals company Ineos has been granted £120m of government funding to help save the UK’s last ethylene plant at Grangemouth, in a deal expected to protect more than 500 jobs.
The investment in the Scottish plant was necessary to preserve a vital part of the country’s chemicals infrastructure, the UK government said. The ethylene produced there was essential for medical-grade plastics production, water treatment and in aerospace and car-building, it added.
The Agenda
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9am GMT: Germany Ifo business climate index
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9.30am GMT: UK House prices
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11am GMT: UK CBI Industrial trends survey