Labour Research March 2010

News

Huge surge in rate of inflation

Inflation surged to its highest level for 15 months. Under the Retail Prices Index (RPI), the inflation rate was up to 3.7% in January from 2.4% at the end of 2009.

The rise came as the cuts in interest rates continued to fall out of official calculations and VAT was restored to 17.5%. Under the Consumer Prices Index (CPI), inflation rose to 3.5% in January from 2.9% the previous month.