Report Summary

Period covered: 1st January 2021 – 31st January 2021

Note: Reporting periods are either one month or two months behind the current month as standard.

CPI inflation rose marginally in January, up by 0.1 percentage points to 0.7% year-on-year, and above market expectations of remaining at 0.6%. Increased restrictions due to Covid-19 resulted in 69 basket items being unavailable (8.3%) in January, contributing 0.12 percentage points to the headline inflation rate. The largest upward contribution to the change in CPI inflation rate came from furniture, household equipment and maintenance (0.10 percentage points, pp), driven by furniture and furnishings with less discounting noted as the main factor. Elsewhere, household textiles; household appliances, fitting and repairs; and glassware, tableware and household utensils all made small upward contributions. Restaurants and Hotels (0.09pp) made the second largest upward contribution. Note: the national lockdown imposed at the start of January meant a number of price movements were estimated therefore some caution should be taken. Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages (0.08pp) also made a sizeable upward contribution driven by the vegetables, oils and fats and fish categories. Data collection timing (around 12 January) meant there was minimal impact from the disruption to the movement of goods between the UK and EU at the start of the month. Rising inflation in the Transport category also supported the overall rise in CPI driven by the purchase of vehicles and operation of personal transport equipment components.

Consumer Price Index