Price pressures taking heavy toll on elderly, groups claim
INFLATION expectations have fallen again, the latest YouGov report showed yesterday, although separate data showed that price hikes are still taking their toll on the elderly.
The median inflation expectation for the year ahead fell to 2.4 per cent, from 2.8 per cent in May and three per cent in April, YouGov found.
The results come after inflation in May was shown to have come down to 2.8 per cent on the consumer price index (CPI), in figures released last week by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
However, Age UK found that over 75s faced a higher rate of inflation than the general population, with its so-called silver retail price index rising 3.4 per cent over the year compared to a rise of 3.1 per cent in standard retail prices.
And yesterday Ros Altmann of the over-50s group Saga argued that lower inflation expectations did not give the Bank of England leeway for further quantitative easing (QE).
“Distorting the gilt market is dangerous – it undermines our pension system and has side-effects that actually damage growth,” Altmann argued, urging the Bank to resist more QE.