UK inflation slowed sharply to 4.6% in October

According to the UK National Statistics Office, inflation in the country slowed to 4.6% year-on-year in October 2023, which is the lowest since October 2021. This decrease in inflation was lower than the 4.7% predicted by analysts.

In October, consumer prices remained stable compared to the previous month, after an increase of 0.5% was recorded in September. 

Core inflation, excluding the cost of food, alcohol, tobacco and energy (CPI Core index), also showed a slowdown, increasing by 5.7% in annual terms – this is the lowest indicator in the last year and a half. On a monthly basis, the growth of core inflation was 0.3%, which is less than 0.5% in September.

The retail price Index (RPI), used for wage negotiations, showed an increase of 6.1% YoY, which is significantly less than the 8.9% increase recorded in the previous month. 

It is noted that the difference in the dynamics of CPI and RPI indices is due to taking into account housing costs in RPI and the different weight of air fares, insurance and gasoline prices in these indices. On a monthly basis, the RPI decreased by 0.2% after an increase of 0.5% in September.