'Back to the nineties': Industry reacts as UK inflation reaches 30-year high

The UK’s Consumer Price Index rose 20 basis points above expectations to 5.4% in the 12 months to December 2021, according to the Office for National Statistics, reaching its highest level since March 1992.

The largest contributors to the 12-month uptick came from housing and household services, and transport, which rose by 1.31 and 1.29 percentage points respectively. On a monthly basis, CPI rose by 0.5% between November and December, compared to a monthly rise of 0.3% in December's data. Fund managers bank on global reopening in bullish outlook beyond Covid Alan Custis, managing director and UK equity portfolio manager at Lazard Asset Management, said the view that the current high readings are transitory "is starting to sound a bit hollow". "With the employment data from yesterd...