Return of the I Word

Shopping Trolley

Eurozone inflation nears ECB’s target: The headline figure reached 1.8 percent in January, however core inflation remained muted. Stripping out volatile elements such as energy and food, eurozone inflation stood steady at 0.9 percent.”

National Institute of Economic and Social Research NIESR upgrades economic forecasts for 2017. The respected team of forecasters at the think tank on Wednesday will say the U.K. economy is expected to grow by 1.7 percent this year and 1.9 percent in 2018. In its previous forecast in November, the think tank had predicted a 1.4 percent growth in 2017.

… while a Resolution Foundation report warns that the poor will get poorer: POLITICO’s Silvia Sciorilli Borrelli: The report, “Living Standards 2017,” shows that the U.K.’s recent mini-boom in living standards — in which typical household incomes grew by over 2 percent for two consecutive years — has come to a halt in recent months as a result of rising inflation and flat employment growth. Household income growth is set to fall to 1.2 percent this year, and the slowdown is due to continue until the end of the current parliament.

“The squeeze in the wake of the financial crisis tended to hit richer households the most. But this time around, it’s low- and middle-income families with kids who are set to be worst affected,” said Torsten Bell, director of the Resolution Foundation.

Rising prices are hitting those on benefits whose incomes have been fixed by the government and are no longer linked to the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Hard times are ahead.