UK inflation unchanged in May

StevieJ

UK CPI 4.5% compared to Europe rate of 3.2%, I guess the difference would be due to the VAT increase in Jan.

The UK Consumer Prices Index (CPI) annual rate of inflation held steady in May at 4.5%.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13759286

RenovationMan

Good news for BoE rates.

Oh, and the general population who are struggling at the moment to make ends meet.

But more importantly, this is good for BoE rates.

lemonjelly

For those with ILSC's :beer:

Standard of living is going to feel high for a while yet methinks.

Interesting to compare this with the recent PWC survey:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/jun/14/poor-hit-higher-rate-inflation-than-rich

Edited highlights: the poor & pensioners are the hardest hit by inflation in the past 10 years, experiencing inflation as being 4.3%, whereas the better off have experienced inflation at 2.7%. Contrasts quite interestingly with the archbishps recent comments.

With the recent (& more forthcoming) rises in utility bills, I doubt inflation is going to fall much. Indeed, by 2012 the utility rises may negate the VAT increase:eek:

lemonjelly

RenovationMan wrote: »

Good news for BoE rates.

Oh, and the general population who are struggling at the moment to make ends meet.

But more importantly, this is good for BoE rates.

Fairly ludicrous statement that, especially for one who regularly argues IR's do not solely relate to inflation figures.

& the comment that it is good for BoE IR's is nonsense. IR's have no desire for any particular set of figures. What you mean is potentially good news for people who don't want IR's to rise.

Like perhaps those who may well have over-stretched themselves with their mortgage?:)

DervProf

RenovationMan wrote: »

Good news for BoE rates.

Oh, and the general population who are struggling at the moment to make ends meet.

But more importantly, this is good for BoE rates.

Sounds like a bit of self interest (excuse the pun).

Is it good news for the general population ?

I bet if I ask 10 people what they think of inflation still being 4.5% this month, few or none of them will say "good news".

A drop in inflation would be good news for the general population, and probably good news for the economy.

DervProf

lemonjelly wrote: »

Like perhaps those who may well have over-stretched themselves with their mortgage?:)

And even those who haven't overstretched themselves, but are struggling to pay the increased cost of food, fuel etc. The last thing they want is to be paying any more for their mortgage.

michaels

I thought those percentage figures were for the last 3 years - for me some comparisons over 10, 15, 20 and 25 years might be as useful as there were some periods of sharply falling utility and food prices which would have skewed things the other way.

I do agree with the comments on luxuries and essentials however and that whilst the average family might typically replace their TV and washing machine every 5 years, when times are tight they will focus on food and utilities and thus the RPI basket may not be very relevant to those who are arguably least able to cope with price increases.

lemonjelly wrote: »

For those with ILSC's :beer:

Standard of living is going to feel high for a while yet methinks.

Interesting to compare this with the recent PWC survey:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/jun/14/poor-hit-higher-rate-inflation-than-rich

Edited highlights: the poor & pensioners are the hardest hit by inflation in the past 10 years, experiencing inflation as being 4.3%, whereas the better off have experienced inflation at 2.7%. Contrasts quite interestingly with the archbishps recent comments.

With the recent (& more forthcoming) rises in utility bills, I doubt inflation is going to fall much. Indeed, by 2012 the utility rises may negate the VAT increase:eek:

abaxas

Merv's pension INCREASING.

DervProf

There seems to be a lot of selfish, short sighted individuals that visit this forum. While basking in the glow of record low interest rates, they barely spare a thought for some of the older members of the population that have seen large rises in their cost of living, and possibly a fall in the return on their savings, if they have any. I read a report on teletext earlier that the less well off have see a higher rate of inflation than the wealthier people in this country.

By all means enjoy your good fortune, but please don't make out that it is good news for all, as I am sure that it is not.

It is all very well "filling your boots" with property that will keep you comfortable when you retire, but what you must remember is that not everyone is able to do that (no matter how clever they are), or was able to do that. It is only in the last 20 or so years that I remember this new religion of property being your pension being practiced. Prior to that, most people simply saved, or invested in a pension for their retirement. A pretty sensible thing to do (so it seemed). It is arguable that some of these people may now be struggling, due to the economic turmoil that we are now going through. A fairly small proportion of the population are doing OK on the back of low interest rates, and these "wealthy" individuals are probably not too fussed that their weekly Waitrose bill has increased from £170 to £240 over the past couple of years. Of course they should enjoy their good fortune, who wouldn't ? However, they should never forget that not everyone is so fortunate, and they certainly shouldn't make out that low interest rates are good for everyone.

RenovationMan

There is a lack of humour these days in this forum.

IveSeenTheLight

DervProf wrote: »

There seems to be a lot of selfish, short sighted individuals that visit this forum. While basking in the glow of record low interest rates, they barely spare a thought for some of the older members of the population that have seen large rises in their cost of living, and possibly a fall in the return on their savings, if they have any. I read a report on teletext earlier that the less well off have see a higher rate of inflation than the wealthier people in this country.

By all means enjoy your good fortune, but please don't make out that it is good news for all, as I am sure that it is not.

It is all very well "filling your boots" with property that will keep you comfortable when you retire, but what you must remember is that not everyone is able to do that (no matter how clever they are), or was able to do that. It is only in the last 20 or so years that I remember this new religion of property being your pension being practiced. Prior to that, most people simply saved, or invested in a pension for their retirement. A pretty sensible thing to do (so it seemed). It is arguable that some of these people may now be struggling, due to the economic turmoil that we are now going through. A fairly small proportion of the population are doing OK on the back of low interest rates, and these "wealthy" individuals are probably not too fussed that their weekly Waitrose bill has increased from £170 to £240 over the past couple of years. Of course they should enjoy their good fortune, who wouldn't ? However, they should never forget that not everyone is so fortunate, and they certainly shouldn't make out that low interest rates are good for everyone.

For those relying on savings and interest rates, sure, it's not good for them at the moment, however you must remember, it's their investments and any investments are subject to change. there is no gaurantee

For those without savings, interest rates don;t really affect them. You may wish to see rates higher to try and lower inflation, but there is a much wider economy to consider.

The question you need to ask regading pensions, is why so many have decided to invest in Property instead of or in addition to standard pensions.
For me, it's because I have no trust or understanding of how my pension pot will be valued in 30 years time.
Therefore many like myself have looked at alternative investments as a way of securing our future.
Sure not all can do it, but don't critisize those that are looking to the future.

Food Bills and other things - Sure, the cost of living is going up and it affects all, not just the poorer community.
This is why people have to budget and cut back on other things.

It would be interesting to see, how peoples household income compared to outgoings if you stripped out all non essentials