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2025-12-17 16:20:18
[UK Inflation Plunges to 3.2% in November, Christmas Rate Cut Expectations Rise] ⑴ The latest data from the UK Office for National Statistics shows that core inflation, excluding energy, food, alcohol, and tobacco, rose to 3.2% in the year to November, down from 3.4% in October. ⑵ Grant Fitzgerald, chief economist at the UK Office for National Statistics, said on Wednesday that the decline in food prices, which typically rise before the Christmas season, was the main reason for the drop in inflation, with particularly noticeable declines in the prices of cakes, biscuits, and breakfast cereals. ⑶ The UK unemployment rate rose to 5.1% on Tuesday, a figure that is likely to prompt the Bank of England's nine-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to cut the benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 3.75% at its meeting on Thursday. Economists expect the Bank of England's MPC to vote 5-4 in favor of a rate cut, with Governor Andrew Bailey likely to be the key vote in favor of a small reduction in interest rates. (4) Suren Thiru, economic director of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, said: "Combined with a series of gloomy economic data recently, these inflation figures mean that a rate cut tomorrow is almost a certainty."
