© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A shopper looks at food items in a shop as UK inflation heads towards 10% in London, Britain, June 16, 2022. REUTERS/Kevin Coombs/File Photo
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s underlying inflation relative to the main measure of price growth is proving harder to tackle than in other countries, Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee member Catherine Mann said on Wednesday.
“The gap that I have in my country is more persistent than the gaps that we see in either of my neighbours, the U.S. or the euro area,” Mann said in a policy discussion organised by Swiss fund management firm Pictet.
“But nevertheless there is a gap between the headline, which is incorporating energy which went up really high and now has come down, and core where we do start to see the implications coming through pricing channels, through wage negotiations, into something that is persistent.”
The BoE has raised rates 12 times since December 2021 after it took interest rates to 4.5% earlier this month. Markets expect rates to reach 5.5% later this year after stronger-than-expected inflation data published last week.
