- Headline consumer price inflation was unchanged at 3% in January.
- Inflation had been expected to fall at the start of the year, but failed to do so.
- "The cost of entry to attractions such as zoos and gardens" was a key driver in the higher than expected reading.
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The rising price of going to zoos and gardens pushed up UK inflation at the start of 2018
The UK's latest inflation numbers were published on Tuesday morning.
LONDON — The level of inflation remained unchanged at the beginning of 2018, confounding expectations that it would start to fall sharply as the year commenced.
The Office for National Statistics said on Tuesday that the UK's Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation rate — the key measure of inflation — was 3% in January, unchanged from the level seen in December's data release, the final one of 2017.
CPI measures the weighted average of prices of a basket of goods and services, such as food, transportation, and medical care.
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The sharp fall in the value of the pound following the UK's vote to leave the EU in the summer of 2016 has raised the cost of imports and pushed up the rate of inflation.
Most major forecasters believed that inflation would peak in late 2017, and start to fall as 2018 progresses, thanks in part to sterling's recent recovery to almost $1.40.
Inflation's consistent overshooting of the Bank of England's government mandated 2% target over the past year or so is one of the main drivers for the bank's recent assertions that it will likely raise interest rates faster, and to a greater extent than previously expected during 2018.
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