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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
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| UK inflation rate leaps to 2.3% | UK inflation rate leaps to 2.3% |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Inflation, as measured by the Office for National Statistics' Consumer Prices Index, jumped to 2.3% in February - up from 1.8% in January. | |
| The rate is the highest since September 2013 and above the 2% target the Bank of England is charged with keeping inflation at. | The rate is the highest since September 2013 and above the 2% target the Bank of England is charged with keeping inflation at. |
| Rising fuel and food prices were the main factors pushing inflation higher. | |
| The Brexit vote last June prompted a steep fall in the value of the pound, making imported goods more expensive. | |
| The Bank of England has said it expects inflation will peak at 2.8% next year. | The Bank of England has said it expects inflation will peak at 2.8% next year. |
| Ben Brettell, senior economist at Hargreaves Lansdown, said the fall in the pound against the dollar had been pushing transport costs higher since last summer. | |
| "Oil is priced in dollars, and sterling has fallen around 13% on a trade-weighted basis since last June's referendum. As such transport costs accounted for 0.8 percentage points of the overall figure," he said. | |
| He pointed out that many economists thought inflation could rise above 3%. | |
| This month, the ONS has started to promote a new inflation statistic, CPIH, which includes a measure of housing costs and council tax. This was also measured as growing at a rate of 2.3% in February. |