A second consecutive monthly fall from October’s high of 11.1% suggests price rises may have peaked and the descent towards less corrosive rates, perhaps below 6% by the middle of the year, has begun.
Some of this will be down to economic gravity, as increases that were gathering pace at the turn of last year, and accelerated with the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, are lapped by this year’s figures.
If inflation has peaked, however, it does not mean the worst is over for consumers; falling inflation is not the same as falling prices. It is only the rate of increase that is slowing.
