By Catherine Reynolds
Investing.com -- Annual consumer price inflation in the U.K. surged to 5.1% in November, adding to pressure to the Bank of England to raise interest rates.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported on Wednesday that consumer prices rose at their fastest rate since September 2008, from 4.2% in October. Analysts had expected a rate of 4.7% ahead of time. The monthly rate of inflation rose 0.7%, compared with a fall of 0.1% in the same month the previous year.
The ONS attributed the rise in inflation to transport, housing and household services.
The inflation data is the last reading on consumer prices that BoE policymakers will receive before their final policy meeting of the year on Thursday. Strength in the labor market and elevated inflation underline the case for higher interest rates. But renewed fears over the prospect of an economic slowdown from the rapid spread of the Omicron variant of Covid -19 mean policymakers are likely to keep rates on hold.
On Tuesday, the latest U.K. employment report showed that jobs growth remained strong and vacancies stayed at record levels in November.
The BoE had been expected to hike rates in November, in what would have been the first increase since the pandemic struck, but instead it kept rates unchanged, despite some hawkish guidance from top policymakers in the weeks leading up to the meeting.
Last week data showed that the U.K. economy flatlined in October, even before the emergence of Omicron, causing markets to push back bets for a rate hike to February.