IN BRIEF : British Inflation Rate Unchanged
Britain’s retail price index rose 0.5% in November, leaving annual inflation static at 6.4%, the Employment Department said today.
The annual rate was unchanged from October, when inflation jumped to its highest in more than three years, largely due to higher interest rates on home loans.
Domestic interest rates have risen sharply since early summer as Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson tries to rein in an inflationary consumer spending boom.
Employment Secretary Norman Fowler warned today that salaries are growing too fast and he appealed to trade union negotiators to keep their annual wage claims down, although the growth of average earnings in the year to the end of October fell slightly to 9% from 9.25% the previous month.
Lawson has conceded that inflation will probably peak at about 7% early next year before beginning to drop again.
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