Luke Bartholomew, deputy chief economist at Aberdeen Asset Management, said: "Today's inflation report is nothing more than leftovers from a pre-Iran conflict world." The Office for National Statistics said that falling gasoline prices in February helped offset the impact of rising clothing prices, but this appears to be short-lived, as oil prices have now risen by about 50% compared to a month ago. Official data released on Wednesday showed that the UK's consumer price inflation rate remained steady at 3% in February, unchanged from January's rate, before an expected rise driven by the Middle East war, which is set to push prices higher. Before the attack...
