2018.08.1505:14:00UTC+00UK Inflation Accelerates In July

UK inflation accelerated for the first time in eight months in July, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed Wednesday.

Consumer prices climbed 2.5 percent year-on-year in July, as expected, but slightly faster than the 2.4 percent increase in June.

Core inflation that excludes energy, food, alcoholic beverages and tobacco, held steady at 1.9 percent in July.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices remained flat in July, in line with expectations. ONS head of inflation, Mike Hardie said, "Transport tickets and fuel, along with often erratic computer game prices, drove up costs for consumers. On the other hand, there was a drop in prices for women's clothing and footwear, and some financial services."

Another report from ONS showed that output price inflation eased to 3.1 percent in July from 3.3 percent in the previous month. The rate came in line with forecast.

Month-on-month, output prices remained unchanged, while economists had forecast a 0.2 percent rise.

At the same time, input price inflation came in at 10.9 percent versus 10.3 percent in June and a forecast of 10.4 percent. Monthly inflation accelerated to 0.5 percent from 0.3 percent, while it was forecast to slow to 0.1 percent.