{"id":653191,"date":"2026-10-21T23:12:17","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T23:12:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/653191\/"},"modified":"2026-10-21T23:12:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T23:12:17","slug":"uk-inflation-rise-to-highest-in-almost-a-year-as-iran-war-drives-fuel-prices-higher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/653191\/","title":{"rendered":"UK inflation rise to highest in almost a year as Iran war drives fuel prices higher"},"content":{"rendered":"

LONDON — Inflation in the U.K. rose to its highest rate in almost a year as the Iran war<\/a> continues to ratchet up fuel prices, official figures showed Wednesday, cementing market expectations that the Bank of England will raise interest rates next month.<\/p>\n

The Office for National Statistics said consumer prices rose by 3.5% in the year to September, up from 3.1% in August. That’s the highest reading since October last year, and above the 3.4% that most economists had been expecting for the month.<\/p>\n

The increase takes inflation further above the Bank of England’s target rate of 2%. <\/p>\n

Prices across the transport industry were the biggest contributor to higher inflation last month, particularly at the pump. Overall, motor fuels soared by 30% in the year to September, up from a 23% annual rise in August.<\/p>\n

Fuel costs have been soaring because of the Iran war and the ensuing bottlenecks in the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>, which have squeezed global oil and gas supplies.<\/p>\n

Treasury chief John Healey said his budget statement next week will aim to give businesses and families \u201csome breathing space\u201d from the upward march in the cost of living. <\/p>\n

Whatever measures he comes up with to keep a lid on rising prices, economists expect the Bank of England to increase interest rates at its next meeting on Nov. 5. Last month, rate-setters held the bank’s main rate at 3.75%<\/a> but gave a big hint that they were ready to hike soon.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith inflation increasing, the pieces are falling firmly into place for a November rate rise,” said Suren Thiru, chief economist at ICAEW.<\/p>\n

Most economists expect an increase in the bank’s main rate to 4%. Other central banks, including the U.S. Federal Reserve<\/a> and the European Central Bank<\/a>, have raised rates recently.<\/p>\n

Interest rates in the U.K. had been trending downward from a 15-year high of 5.25% until the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran in late February. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONDON — Inflation in the U.K. rose to its highest rate in almost a year as the Iran…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":653192,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[159991,114,9513,184,4196,122,85,932,117780,46],"class_list":["post-653191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-2024-2026-mideast-wars","tag-business","tag-economic-indicators","tag-economy","tag-financial-services","tag-general-news","tag-il","tag-inflation","tag-iran-war","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=653191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/653192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}