Inflation - really only 4.4%?

by Matthew Rock - Tuesday, 12th August 2008 - - Business comment

The latest CPI (consumer price inflation) figures are out and they are grisly.

This morning it's been announced that inflation is running at 4.4 per cent - that's nearly double the government's two per cent target. The announcement comes one week after the Monetary Policy Committee decided to keep interest rates on hold at five per cent.

Now, of course, the MPC faces a real quandary because, while commodity (especially food and energy) prices are soaring, the other key ingredient - property prices - are actually nosediving. What to do? Erm, nothing.

Purist economists will, of course, tell you that official CPI inflation figures only tell you the prices facing consumers. All of us in business recognise that, in reality, prices are rising much faster than the official numbers.

We'd be interested in your experiences of rising costs to your business, where they're being most acutely felt and what you're doing about it.

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