Over the last 12 months, the all items index rose 1.5 percent before seasonal adjustment.
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So-called core CPI, removing out food and energy costs, gained 0.1% last month after climbing 0.3% in August. Shelter prices rose 0.4%, the fastest since May, reflecting higher prices for renters. Food prices were down, but then perhaps less than you might have expected, given supermarkets are in the midst of one of their price wars.
Fed monetary policymakers want to see prices rising 2 percent annually.
The ONS said there was also upward pressure on inflation from hotel, clothing and restaurant prices.
“We think that CPI will breach the Monetary Policy Committee’s 2% target around spring next year, and will peak at about 3.2% in the first half of 2018, once the direct and indirect effects of the pound’s fall have had time to feed through”, he added. Prominent price rises included footwear (2%), and fresh vegetables (1.8%).
Last month’s inflation rise was mostly due to higher oil prices, which pushed up the price of fuel for British motorists. Until last month, the modest levels of inflation largely came from muted oil prices and a stronger dollar. Jet fuel fell 8.1 percent in price.
Two items that showed notable year-over-year price increases were vehicle insurance and tobacco. The costs of medical care and auto insurance moved higher. The data from the report suggest benefits will likely rise 0.3% next year, under an annual cost-of-living adjustment that is tied to how much certain prices grew in July through September compared with 2014, the last year when benefits were adjusted. Along with the gasoline index, other energy component indexes also rose. This matches reported rates of cost growth from previous years. In fact, since September 2012, prices charged by coal mining companies have fallen 11.9 percent.
Prices have shown a gradual pickup as housing costs continue to climb and the drop in energy prices abates. The prices grew by 2.0% in cities and 1.6% in rural areas.
“This is a huge problem for most New Zealanders who have seen their wages barely rise in recent years, ” he said. On a year-over-year basis, they’re down 1.5%.
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Earlier Tuesday, official data showed that the annual rate of inflation in the United Kingdom rose at the fastest rate in 22 months in September, amid a sharp fall in sterling in the aftermath of the June 23 Brexit vote.
