UK Inflation Accelerates To 2.6%

(RTTNews) - UK consumer price inflation accelerated as expected in November, official data showed on Wednesday.

The consumer price index posted an annual growth of 2.6 percent, up from 2.3 percent in October, the Office for National Statistics reported. Inflation has remained above the 2 percent target for the second straight month.

Core inflation, excluding prices of energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, advanced to 3.5 percent from 3.3 percent.

The CPI goods rose 0.4 percent on year, reversing a 0.3 percent fall. Meanwhile, services cost inflation held steady at 5.0 percent.

Monthly inflation softened to 0.1 percent, in line with expectations, from 0.6 percent in the previous month.

Another data from the ONS showed that factory gate prices declined 0.6 percent annually, following a revised 0.9 percent drop in October. The annual fall in input prices slowed to 1.9 percent from 2.4 percent.

Monthly input prices were unchanged in November following a 0.1 percent gain. At the same time, output prices rose 0.3 percent after a revised 0.1 percent decrease.