Inflation hits 40-year high in May

Inflation hits 40-year high in May
UK inflation climbed to a new 40-year high in May 2022, latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show.
May’s consumer price index (CPI) was up 9.1% compared with the same period last year, the highest since 1982 and up from 9% the month before.
With further rises in household energy bills still to come, inflation is expected to climb even higher to around 11% this autumn.
Core CPI, which excludes food and fuel prices, was up 5.9%, down from 6.2% in April. CPIH, the Bank of England’s preferred measure, was up 7.9% in May from 7.8% in April.
Grant Fitzner, chief economist at the ONS, said the prices of goods leaving factories rose at their fastest rate in 45 years in May, “driven by widespread food price rises”.
Raw material costs, meanwhile, are rising at their fastest rate on record, Fitzner added.