19.09.201808:30:00UTC+00UK Inflation At 6-Month High

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UK inflation rose to a six-month high in August, the Office for National Statistics reported Wednesday.

Consumer price inflation increased unexpectedly to 2.7 percent in August from 2.5 percent in July. This was the highest rate since February. Economists had forecast inflation to ease to 2.4 percent.

Month-on-month, consumer prices climbed 0.7 percent, faster than the expected 0.5 percent.

Core inflation that excludes energy, food, alcoholic beverages and tobacco, rose to 2.1 percent from 1.9 percent in July.

Another report from ONS showed that output price inflation slowed to 2.9 percent in August, in line with forecast from 3.1 percent a month ago. Compared to July, output prices gained 0.2 percent.

Input price inflation slowed to 8.7 percent from 10.3 percent in July. The expected rate of increase was 9.1 percent. On a monthly basis, input prices rose 0.5 percent after staying flat in July.