Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Inflation is expected to increase this week, dealing a blow to hopes that a moderation cost of living rises would help to support an economic recovery.
Figures for the Consumer Prices Index in May will be released on Tuesday, with City analysts expecting them to show an uptick in the annual inflation rate to 2.6 per cent.
In April, the inflation rate registered a sharp fall from 2.8 per cent to 2.4 per cent, thanks to lower fuel cost increases than a year earlier. But economists expect unflattering price comparison effects with last year to push up the inflation rate over the remainder of 2013. "We judge that it is likely inflation will surpass the 3 per cent level next month, which would entail the new Bank of England Governor, Mark Carney, needing to write an open letter to the Chancellor in August," said Philip Shaw, chief economist at Investec.
The Bank of England's inflation projections show the rate peaking at over 3 per cent later this year and then only falling gradually to the official 2 per cent target in 2015.
Inflation has outstripped pay rises since the 2008 crisis, meaning that real pay has been falling. Figures show that total pay rose by 1.3 per cent in April on the previous year, an improvement on the previous month, but still a real-terms pay cut.
A Monetary Policy Committee member, Ian McCafferty, has admitted that it is "easy" to see why people might think the Bank has become tolerant of higher inflation given the persistent overshoots of the official 2 per cent target.
However, data releases in recent weeks have convinced many analysts that the picture is brightening.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments