CPI inflation rate for goods and services in the UK 2000-2024
In October 2024, the UK inflation rate for goods was -0.3 percent and five percent for services. Prices for goods accelerated significantly, sharply between in 2021 and 2022 before falling in 2023. By comparison, prices for services have grown at a more moderate rate, but are currently higher than goods. The overall CPI inflation rate for the UK reached a recent high of 11.1 percent in October 2022 and remained in double-figures until April 2023, when it fell to 8.7 percent. As of September 2024, the UK's inflation rate was 1.7 percent, the lowest inflation rate since April 2021.
Sectors driving high inflation
In late 2023, food inflation was replaced by alcohol and tobacco as the sector with the highest inflation rate, with prices in this sector increasing by 12.4 percent as of January 2024. Before food had the highest inflation rate between April and October 2023, housing and energy inflation was far higher than in any other sector, peaking at 26.7 percent in January 2023. High food and energy prices since 2021 have been one of the main causes of the Cost of Living Crisis in the UK, especially for low-income households that spend a higher share of their income on these categories. This is likely one of the factors driving increasing food bank usage in the UK, which saw approximately 2.98 million people use a food bank in 2022/23, compared with 1.9 million just before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The global inflation crisis
The UK has not been alone in suffering rapid price increases since 2021. After the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, a series of economic and geopolitical shocks have had a dramatic impact on the global economy. A global supply chain crisis failed to meet rising demand in 2021, leading to the beginning of an Inflation Crisis, which was only exacerbated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The war directly influenced the prices of food and energy, as both countries were major exporters of important crops. European imports of hydrocarbons from Russia were also steadily reduced throughout 2022 and 2023, resulting in high energy prices throughout the year.