Inflation - comment from Simon Webb at LiveMore, the mortgage lender for the 50-90+ age group.

Simon Webb, managing director of capital markets and finance at LiveMore, commented: “This stall in annual consumer price inflation, remaining at 8.7% in May, means there is still a long way to go to reach the government’s 2% target.”

“We hoped inflation would have gone down as energy prices have been falling in recent months and now food price inflation appears to be slowly following, although it is still very high at 18.3%, down from 19% in April.”

“But core consumer price inflation, which doesn’t include food and energy prices, has risen for the third consecutive month to 7.1% from 6.8%. Inflation is key for the Bank of England to consider when deciding on the base rate so it looks inevitable there will be a rise tomorrow following the Monetary Policy Committee’s meeting.”

Published: 21 June 2023