Inflation edges up to 1.9% on higher food prices

Consensus expectations were for inflation to remain at its January two-year low of 1.8% in February, but higher food, alcohol and video game prices caused a slight increase of 0.1 percentage points. However, core inflation, which excludes the most volatile components like food and energy prices, declined slightly from 1.9% to 1.8%, meaning there is a lack of domestic inflationary pressure. Markets have had little reaction to the news, which is also not expected to affect the path of interest rates. Hargreaves Lansdown senior economist Ben Brettell said: "The Bank of England has bee...