Inflation

The Bank of England (BoE) today kept interest rates at a record low of 0.5% as uncertainty remains over who will govern Britain.

As Britain wakes up this morning to a likely hung parliament, IFAonline examines the key issues threatening a cross-party coalition.

Household finances deteriorated at the fastest pace for four months in April, data from Markit/YouGov suggests.

The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted unanimously to hold fire on any changes to interest rates this month, but some members are growing increasingly concerned about inflation.

The Bank of England's fantasy forecast of a decline in annual CPI inflation to about 1% in early 2011 looks even less credible in the wake of March numbers showing an unexpectedly large rise from 3% to 3.4%.

Inflation rose to 3.4% in March, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Tax on pension contributions could affect those currently earning £100,000 a year by 2020, Towers Watson has warned.

Inflation fell back to 3% in February after a sharp spike at the beginning of the year.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is changing the way in which it calculates Retail Price Inflation (RPI) in an attempt to reflect the cost of housing more realistically.

Investors should turn to commodities underpinned by the emerging economies to shelter from an inflation storm set to hit the UK, says the manager of the Fidelity Global Real Assets fund.