In the United Kingdom, there's been a sharp rise in the rate at which prices are rising.

This is the Marketplace Morning Report from the BBC World Service. I'm Nick Qureshi in Fort Leanna

Byrne. Hello. The UK's inflation rate has jumped from 2.5% to 3%. That is the highest level in 10 months. Perhaps a growing sign of an economy under

pressure. The BBC's Will Baines with me. So, Will, somewhat of a surprise is this high?

Yeah, morning, Nick. Yeah, it was a bit of a surprise, actually, I think, because the Bank of England

Central Bank here in the UK kind of been flagging that inflation might be on the way. We just didn't

quite think it was going to come quite as soon as this big spike. There were some one-offs, if you like,

that drove that a bit. So one is a policy around changing the kind of tax relief that private schools,

so fee-paying schools here in the UK have. That is going in the spring. And as a result, a lot of the fees

at these schools went up. So that was a big outlier that drove the overall average up. The other

was that airlines here in the UK normally would be discounting their prices. And they didn't

do that that much this Christmas. So transport was another big driver of that headline figure.

What does this mean for interest rates, Will?

Normally, you would think, wouldn't you?

Naturally, a economy under pressure would mean

one of the ways you kind of relieve that pressure

is cutting interest rates, encouraging us to borrow a bit more,

companies to borrow and expand a bit more.

But this inflation data today and that trajectory

of where it might be going, with energy bills going up a bit here in But this inflation data today and that trajectory of where it might be going with

energy bills going up a bit here in the UK to, water bills going up, and those price rises

I just mentioned, it's a difficult conundrum for the Bank of England, the usual kind of economic

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