By Denis Sheehan MIH
This morning the Office for National Statistics released the latest inflation figures for the UK. The consumer prices index fell to 8.7% last month from 10.1% in March.
Economists had predicted a bigger drop to 8.2%, helped by last year’s rise in household gas and electricity bills dropping out of the annual calculation for the increase in living costs. Food inflation however remains stubbornly resistant to reducing, a problem that continues to blight hospitality and catering businesses.
Reductions in wholesale energy market costs seem positive as a headline indicator, but as Ofgem and government resist calls to take action on unscrupulous energy providers, all too many hospitality and catering businesses continue to be served with hyper inflationary bills.
