Rising fuel costs push up inflation

The Consumer Prices Index (CPI), on which the Government sets inflation targets, rose last month from 2.1% in December. Inflation has reached its highest level since July 2007 and remains above the 2% target set by the Treasury, meaning the Bank of England may have acted prematurely when it cut rates earlier this month. Some analysts were expecting a bigger jump in inflation following two base rate cuts in the past three months, but the Bank of England is likely to remain concerned about inflation and further rate cuts seem unlikely in the near future. According to the National Office of...