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CAIRO: UK’s inflation topped 10 percent recording its highest rate since 1982.
British consumer price inflation jumped to 10.1 percent in July, its highest since February 1982, up from an annual rate of 9.4 percent in June, intensifying the squeeze on households, official figures showed on Wednesday.
The increase was above all economists’ forecasts in a Reuters poll for inflation to rise to 9.8 percent in July, and will do nothing to ease the Bank of England’s concerns that price pressures may become entrenched.
Spain’s public debt-to-GDP ratio
Spain’s public debt ended the second quarter at the equivalent of 116.8 percent of gross domestic product, the Bank of Spain said on Wednesday.
Spain’s debt-to-GDP ratio at the end of June was lower than the 117.7 percent registered in March and below the 118.7 percent at the end of 2021, the central bank said.
Dutch economy grows
Economic growth in the Netherlands surprisingly jumped to 2.6 percent in the second quarter compared with the previous three months, as household spending boomed despite soaring inflation and companies increased their investments.
The strong expansion confounded expectations among economists that growth would remain at roughly the same 0.5 percent pace seen in the first quarter of 2022.
“These numbers show that, despite recent worries, a recession is not yet in sight,” Statistics Netherlands chief economist Peter Hein van Mulligen said.
US retail sales flat
US retail sales were unchanged in July as declining gasoline prices weighed on receipts at service stations, but consumer spending appeared to holding up, which could further assuage fears that the economy was already in recession.
The Commerce Department on Wednesday said that retail sales’ flat reading last month followed a downwardly revised 0.8 percent increase in June. Retail sales in June were previously reported to have advanced 1.0 percent.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast that sales would gain 0.1 percent, with estimates ranging from as low as a 0.3 percent decline to as high as a 0.9 percent increase. Retail sales are mostly goods and are not adjusted for inflation.
(With input from Reuters)