{"id":818685,"date":"2026-08-19T11:12:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T11:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/818685\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T11:12:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T11:12:12","slug":"jump-in-energy-bills-drives-inflation-to-2-9-the-highest-rate-for-four-months","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/818685\/","title":{"rendered":"Jump in energy bills drives inflation to 2.9% &#8211; the highest rate for four months"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.files.bbci.co.uk\/core\/website\/assets\/static\/news\/incident-types\/light-mode\/analysis.77b314ef10.svg\" alt=\"Analysis\" height=\"2.5rem\" width=\"9.8125rem\" draggable=\"false\" class=\"ssrcss-h608ny-ContributorImageComponent e2hr5uu0\"\/>What the inflation rate could mean for interest rates and mortgagespublished at 08:27 BST<\/p>\n<p>08:27 BST<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1l98ssq-Contributor etflsgg2\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/54ee2260-b13b-4764-8ffe-9da5e4b57d8a.jpg.webp.webp\" width=\"64\" height=\"64\" class=\"ssrcss-egie1y-Image edrdn950\"\/>Dharshini David<br \/>Deputy economics editor<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Among the bills many households have to contend with are mortgages and rent &#8211; so where do the latest inflation figures leave the Bank of<br \/>\nEngland?<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Remember, interest rate changes take a while to impact<br \/>\nprices, with the Bank setting rates to influence future inflation. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">And there is little in these figures to change its belief<br \/>\nthat, in the medium term, inflation will come down to its 2% target. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Actually, the fact that the likes of food inflation has<br \/>\nremained muted may give it hope price pressures remain fairly contained. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Yesterday\u2019s flat jobs and moderate wage growth figures also may lead the Bank to think<br \/>\nthat firms have little opportunity to get away with hiking up prices.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">That\u2019s why some economists think rates may not rise this<br \/>\nyear after all. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">But there are still risks of a rise &#8211; if inflation does rise<br \/>\nby more than analysts expect later in the year, or if the war Iran drags on,<br \/>\nthreatening more upheaval for energy costs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">A reminder: Interest rates are a key tool the Bank of England can use to keep inflation on track with its 2% inflation target. It can raise interest rates to reduce inflation, and lower them to stimulate growth.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"&quot;A line chart showing interest rates and CPI inflation in the UK, from January 2021 to June 2026. Interest rates were at 0.1% in January 2021. They were increased from late-2021, reaching a peak of 5.25% in August 2023.They were then lowered slightly to 5% in August 2024, to 4.75% in November, to 4.5% on 6 February 2025, to 4.25% on 8 May 2025, to 4% on 7 August, and to 3.75% on 18 December. At the Bank of England's latest meeting, rates were held at 3.75%. The inflation rate was 0.7% in the year to January 2021. It then rose to a peak of 11.1% in October 2022, before falling again to a low of 1.7% in September 2024 and then starting to rise again. In the year to March 2026, it was 3.3%, up from 3.0% the previous month. However, the picture has changed since then and in the year to July 2026 the inflation rate was 2.9%.&quot;\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/f9392426-1653-4d03-baa5-962545c03e1b.png.webp\"  width=\"1600\" height=\"1600\" class=\"ssrcss-egie1y-Image edrdn950\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What the inflation rate could mean for interest rates and mortgagespublished at 08:27 BST 08:27 BST Dharshini DavidDeputy&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":818686,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[28,101],"class_list":["post-818685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=818685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/818686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=818685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=818685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=818685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}