UK Inflation Still in Double-Digits, Pushing GBP Higher

UK inflation remained unexpectedly elevated, coming in at double-digits in March, with households continuing to deal with soaring food prices and high energy bills.

The news resulted in the GBPUSD pair rising in early Wednesday trading, hitting a high of 1.2473. It is currently up around 0.24% at 1.2455.

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The Office for National Statistics revealed that consumer prices increased by an annual 10.1%. That number is down from 10.4% in February but exceeds the 9.8% expected. According to Reuters, the UK is the only country in Western Europe with double-digit inflation in March.

Consumer spending continues to be pressured as the price of food and non-alcoholic drinks rose by 19.1% in March, representing the largest such increase since August 1977.

The BoE recently said inflation is set to fall significantly in Q2, prompting speculation that the central bank had halted rate hikes. However, given today’s data, traders and investors are now pricing in a 95% chance that the central bank will raise rates next month.

Core inflation, which does not include those from the food and energy sectors, came in at 6.2% YoY in March.