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British inflation hits highest level since September 2013

Xinhua, May 16, 2017 Adjust font size:

British inflation rate has continued its upward trend, hitting a record high in April, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) released Tuesday.

The inflation rate, measured by Consumer Price Index (CPI), was 2.7 percent last month, up from 2.3 percent in March to its highest since September 2013.

Air fares were the main contributors to the increase in the rate, up by 18.6 percent from the month before, with Easter falling on 16 April this year compared with 27 March last year.

Rising prices for clothing, vehicle excise duty and electricity also contributed to the increase in the rate.

The Bank of England (BoE) has expected in its latest Inflation Report that British inflation would peak at a little below 3 percent this year.

The CPI has risen above Monetary Policy Committee's 2 percent target as the depreciation of sterling has begun to feed through to consumer prices, BoE noted.

Sterling has experienced sharp depreciation since the referendum last June. Although it recovered some scope it still remained 16 percent below its November 2015 peak.

The weak pound has lift the import prices and likely to pile further upward pressure on consumer prices in coming months, market analysts said. Endit