UK inflation falls short of expectations

The UK's annual inflation rate for July 2024 rose to 2.2% from 2% in June, but fell short of the forecast of 2.3%.

Since price drops in gas charges (22.8% decrease, 37.5% decrease) and electricity charges (19.5% decrease, 21% decrease) were less than the previous month, price increases in housing/household services (3.7% increase, 2.3% increase) accelerated.

There were also significant price increases for clothing and footwear (2.1% vs. 1.6%), telecommunications (4.5% vs. 2.9%), and miscellaneous goods and services (3.5% vs. 2.9%).

Meanwhile, inflation rates for food and non-alcoholic beverages (1.5%) and education (4.5%) remained flat.

The inflation rate for services (5.2%, low level since 2022/6, 5.7%), restaurants/hotels centered on hotels (4.9%, vs. 6.2%), recreation/culture (3.7%, vs. 3.9%), personal transportation equipment maintenance/repair (5.7%, vs. 8%), air passenger transportation (10.4%, vs. 0.9%), and transportation centered on automobile fuels (0.2%, vs. 0.9%) has slowed.

Core inflation fell from 3.5% to 3.3%, below expectations of 3.4%.

Compared to June, CPI fell 0.2%.

Source: National Bureau of Statistics