Inflation in the United Kingdom came lower than anticipated in June, but remained well above the Bank of England’s 2.0% target, official data showed on Wednesday.
Following May’s hotter-than-expected 8.7% reading, the headline consumer price index in the UK cooled to 7.9% in June. Reuters’ survey of economists predicted an annual increase of 8.2%.
The headline CPI rose 0.1% month over month, which was less than the average estimate of 0.4%. The annualized rate of core inflation, which excludes volatile energy, food, alcohol and tobacco prices, held steady in June at 6.9% after reaching a 31-year high of 7.1% in May.
Last month, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development predicted that the UK will have the highest inflation rate among all advanced nations this year, at a headline annual rate of 6.9%.
