LONDON (Reuters) – British businesses expect prices to rise by the most over the next 12 months since at least 2017 and they reported growing recruitment difficulties, a monthly survey by the Bank of England showed on Thursday.
Businesses surveyed in February expected inflation in 12 months’ time to be 5.0% – matching December’s record high. On the three-month average basis preferred by the central bank, the reading of 4.8% was the highest since the series began in 2017.
The proportion of firms reporting much greater recruitment difficulties than normal rose to 59% in February from January’s 55%.
(Reporting by David Milliken; Editing by William Schomberg)
