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The United Kingdom's expectations for consumer inflation rose to their highest level over the coming year in just nearly 3-years, a monthly survey by bank Citi and polling firm YouGov showed on Wednesday, reported by Reuters.
The reported also cited that the short-run consumer inflation forecast climbed to 2.6 percent, up from 2.4 percent in December result, the highest since December 2013 and above their long-run average of 2.4 percent.
On the other hand, the Bank of England (BoE) is expected to hold its first monetary policy meeting for 2017 on Thursday, February 2. The central bank is widely expected to maintain its interest rate at a historic low of 0.25 percent amid stronger than expected lift in inflation was more broad-based than widely anticipated and recovery in economic growth.
All but one of the 67 economists polled by Reuters expected that the BoE would keep its policy unchanged when it announces the outcome of the latest meeting of its rate-setters on next Thursday.
Britain's economy grew faster than expected in Q4 2016, according to a preliminary GDP release from the Office for National Statistics on Thursday. According to the ONS' data, GDP grew by 0.6 percent in the quarter, in line the consensus forecast of economists who saw growth increasing by 0.5 percent.
Moreover, the BoE forecast in November that consumer inflation would increase 2.7 percent by the end-2017, supported by weak pounds due to Brexit uncertainties.
Citi said longer-run inflation expectations for the next five to 10 years were unchanged at 3.0 percent, their joint-highest level since 2014. The survey was based on a sample of 2,023 adults polled between January 20 and January 23, reported by Reuters.
