Inflation has fallen below 10% for the first time since August.
It was down to 8.7% in April – from 10.1% in March.
Economists polled by the Reuters news agency predicted 8.2% – but once again the drop isn’t as large as expected.
Electricity and natural gas prices leapt by 40.5% and 66.8% respectively in April 2022, data from Pantheon Macroeconomics showed. Comparatively, they held steady last month, which has brought the figure down.
The ONS said this morning: “The easing in the annual inflation rate in April 2023 mainly reflected price changes in the housing and household services division, particularly for gas and electricity.
“This was offset partially by upward effects coming from recreation and culture, alcoholic beverages and tobacco, communication, and transport.”
Inflation is the rate at which prices are rising.
It has been sky high for more than a year now, in large part because of global factors such as the Ukraine war, which has resulted in Russia squeezing its gas supply, leading to higher energy prices.
Just because inflation comes down, it doesn’t mean prices are. Anything over zero means prices are rising – we’d need deflation for prices to fall, and few people expect that to happen.
