Fuel price hike increases inflation
One of the topics of conversation at Agfa’s Red Carpet event this week away from printing presses was the rise this spring in fuel prices. Anecdotally everyone had a story of diesel hitting the £1.30 a litre mark in some places and the mid-twenties in others, with motorway service stations charging as much as £1.47 a litre.
Tuesday, 19 Jun 2018 13:04 GMT
The cost of fuel is becoming a critical issue for the UK’s manufacturing and haulage industries
Simon Williams, fuel spokesman of the RAC, says: “A 3p a litre rise at the pumps is fortunately fairly unusual, but it’s definitely bad news as it means drivers are now paying 8p more a litre than they did last summer.”
The RAC says motorway service stations are taking advantage by charging as much as 15p per litre above the national average. The motoring organisations comments: “We feel that motorway service operators need to be held to account and made to explain the reason for charging such high prices.
“RAC research has found that motorists feel held to ransom by the inflated fuel prices charged at motorway services and has urged motorway services operators to explain why they charge so much for something that is drastically cheaper everywhere else.”
RAC research has found that motorists feel held to ransom by the inflated fuel prices charged at motorway services and has urged motorway services operators to explain why they charge so much for something that is drastically cheaper everywhere else”
Fuel prices affect all aspects of British industry, manufacturing and printing in particular. The government’s Office of National Statistics (ONS) says inflation has risen as a result in May. The ONS comments: “The Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers’ housing costs (CPIH) 12-month inflation rate was 2.3 percent in May 2018, up from 2.2 percent in April 2018. Rising motor fuel prices produced the largest upward contribution to the change in the rate between April and May 2018. There were also large upward effects from air and sea fares, which rose between April and May this year but fell between the same two months a year ago, influenced by the timing of Easter.”
With inflation up and fuel prices hitting a high, the Bank of England’s hinted interest rate rise for this year may not happen, says the British Chamber of Commerce’s head of economics, Suren Thiru, who notes: “With economic conditions becoming more sluggish, more needs to be done to incentivise business investment, including addressing the burden of upfront costs and taxes faced by UK business, as well as tacking longstanding issues such as the skills gap and the chronic underinvestment in the UK’s digital and physical infrastructure.”
The rise in fuel prices are linked to Russia and Saudi Arabia cutting production to keep rates higher along with the Iran deal with America now in doubt.
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