(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) Prices in the UK rose by 2.6 percent in July, official figures have shown.
The annual inflation rate as measured by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) had stood at 2.4 percent in June, the Office for National Statistics said Tuesday.
The rise in the rate of inflation, which indicates how fast prices have risen in the past 12 months, was due to higher air fares and housing costs, analysts said.
Less discounting at retailers because of bad weather also helped push up the headline figure.
It was the first time since March that the CPI figure had risen. That surprised analysts, who had expected a fall.
Meanwhile the Retail Prices Index, (PPI), which includes housing costs, rose to 3.2 percent from 2.8 percent in June.
This was bad news for commuters as rail fares are now expected to increase from January as they are pegged to the RPI figure.
"Inflation has halved since its peak in September, but any increase is disappointing," said a Treasury spokesperson.
"The government knows how tough things are for families at the moment and that is why we have reduced income tax, and frozen both council tax and fuel duty." The biggest factor in the increase in CPI was air fare prices, which rose 21.7 percent on the month, as flights to European destinations increased, said the ONS.
The CPI inflation rate has fallen from a peak of 5.2 percent in September mainly driven by a drop in fuel prices due to a weak global economy.
Despite the surprise uptick, analysts expect the Bank of England to implement more monetary easing later this year to shore up the economy.
The Bank slashed its growth forecast for the year last week to zero, but left open the door to a further interest rate cut in November.
"The outcome is higher than expected, but in our view, it should not be considered as the harbinger of rising underlying pressures," said the analysts.
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