The Office of National Statistics has released its latest data for December 2022 and inflation, the rate at which prices increase, has dipped 0.2% to 10.5% in December from 10.7% in November, after peaking in October to a staggering rate of 11.1%, the highest recorded in over 40 years.
The main contributing factor of this decrease in the drop of inflation is transport, primarily motor fuels, annual rates decreasing by 0.7% between November and December, fuel prices falling by 8.3 pence per litre over that month. Other areas of commerce seeing substantial drops in inflation were clothing and footwear (dropping by 1%) and recreation and culture (dropping by 0.4%).
Despite the overall decrease in inflation, the cost of food and non-alcoholic beverages continues to soar, with prices increasing by 16.8% in the 12 months to December, up from 16.4% in November. Data suggests that the last time this rate of inflation was matched would have been in 1977. Restaurant and Hotels annual inflation rates are also at their highest since 1991, 11.3% in December, a whopping 1.1% increase from the previous month.
