（责任编辑：苗苏）

Xinhua News Agency reporter Huang Zemin

The UK consumer price index has remained high for several months, repeatedly breaking records. The Bank of England, the central bank of England, said a few days ago that inflation in the UK will continue to rise and peaked at 7.25% in April. Soaring prices have led to a continuous decline in the standard of living of the British people.

According to a report released by the British Retail Consortium a few days ago, UK retail commodity prices rose by 1.5% year-on-year in January, the highest since December 2012. Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, said that as commodity prices and transportation costs continue to rise, it is inevitable that retail commodity prices will continue to rise in the future.

According to a recent report released by the public opinion polling company "Yuguan", more than 80% of the British people are concerned about energy expenditure and rising grocery prices, and more than 40% of the respondents said that the household financial situation may deteriorate this year.

Under the continued high inflation, low-income families bear the brunt. The UK National Institute for Economic and Social Research said recently that the main reason for this round of inflation is fuel and food prices, inflation will increase inequality.

The Office of Gas and Electricity Markets, the UK's energy market regulator, announced on the 3rd of this month that the energy price cap will rise by 54% from April, affecting about 22 million customers, and each British household will need to pay an extra £693 a year for this alone.

Adam Collett, a researcher at the Resolution Foundation, a British think tank, said that the British government has not introduced special measures for low-income households, and the number of households with energy bills exceeding 10% of the total budget will double.

Taking into account the tight labor market in the UK and there are signs that high inflation will be more persistent, the Bank of England announced on the 3rd that it will raise the benchmark interest rate from 0.25% to 0.5%.

Analysts generally believe that the Bank of England may raise interest rates again in the near future. Alpesh Paleja, an economist at the Confederation of British Industry, said that inflationary pressures will persist in the next few months, and the Bank of England may tighten monetary policy again in the near future.

Pantheon Macroeconomics Research predicts that the benchmark rate will gradually rise and rise to 1.0% in May. Capital International Macroeconomic Consulting said that the benchmark interest rate may rise to 1.25% by the end of this year, and may further increase slightly next year.

Suren Thirou, head of economic research at the British Chamber of Commerce, said that the Bank of England is seeking to control inflation, but high energy costs and continued supply chain crises are the incentives for this round of high inflation, and interest rate hikes have limited effect.

(Editor in charge: Miao Su)