Respite for families as wages outpace inflation
Wages are expected to rise faster than prices for the first time in more than a year, this week’s figures are expected to show.
Ministers will seize the main milestone after many months of negative headlines about escalating mortgage rates and skyrocketing inflation.
It will also be greeted with relief by struggling households as a sign that the cost-of-living contraction is beginning to ease.
Experts say average earnings excluding bonuses are expected to have risen just over 7 percent in the year to June as workers continue to gamble on raising wages to try to keep up with rising prices. .
Meanwhile, inflation, which had been rising at double-digit rates, is expected to have fallen further, to around 6.8 percent in July. It means that prices continue to rise, but more slowly.
Fight back: Ministers will seize the main milestone after many months of negative headlines about rising mortgage rates and skyrocketing inflation.
There could be more good news for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who has vowed to cut inflation in half to 5 percent by the end of the year.
Plans to impose costly post-Brexit border controls on food imported from the European Union from October may be delayed again, according to reports.
The Bank of England is understood to have factored in the inflationary impact of these checks when it raised interest rates to 5.25 percent earlier this week.
Sandra Horsfield of investment bank Investec believes that food price inflation, currently at 17.3%, could more than halve by the end of the year if border checks are postponed.
