“Annual CPI inflation rose by 6.8 per cent in July, down from 7.9 per cent in June, driven by falling gas and electricity prices as well as a softening in the pace of food inflation. However, measures of underlying inflation remain high: core CPI rose by 6.9 per cent in the year to July, unchanged from June; annual services CPI rose from 7.2 per cent in June to 7.4 per cent in July; and NIESR’s trimmed-mean CPI estimate remains high at 8.6 per cent, though having fallen from 9.4 per cent in June. Altogether, these data indicate that, despite the welcome fall in the headline rate, we have yet to see a turning point in the underlying rate of inflation, which remains stagnant at around 7 per cent.”