UK inflation accelerates to 40-year-high amid food cost rise

LONDON (AP) — U.K. inflation accelerated to a 40-year high in September as the soaring cost of food squeezed household budgets.

The consumer price index rose 10.1%, compared with 9.9% the previous month, the Office for National Statistics said Wednesday. The new data shows inflation returned to the July peak and is once again at the highest since early 1982.

The increase was driven by food prices, which leapt by 14.5% from a year earlier, the biggest jump since 1980, the ONS said.

The rise increases expectations that the Bank of England will raise interest rates further and faster as it struggles to return inflation to its 2% target.

It will also make it more difficult for the government’s new Treasury chief, who took office less than a week ago, to restore financial stability after the government’s economic plan roiled financial markets over the past month. Jeremey Hunt has said the government “will prioritize help for the most vulnerable while delivering wider economic stability.”

Russia’s war in Ukraine has boosted food and energy prices around the world, with shipments of oil, grain and cooking oil disrupted. That has added to price rises that began last year as the global economy started to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.