"Inflation is likely to remain subdued until the economy regains most of the lost activity due to the pandemic."
CPIH inflation, the ONS' headline measure which includes owner occupiers’ housing costs, was 0.9% in October, up from 0.7% in September.
Clothing, food and furniture made the largest upward contributions to the change in the CPIH 12-month inflation rate between September and October 2020.
These were partially offset by downward contributions from the recreation & culture and transport groups.
The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) 12-month rate was 0.7% in October 2020, up from 0.5% in September.
Debapratim De, senior economist at Deloitte, commented: “October’s inflation figures have come in slightly above expectations. Yet they reflect a disinflationary environment, given the current backdrop of weak wage growth, rising unemployment and abundant spare capacity.
“Inflation is likely to remain subdued until the economy regains most of the lost activity due to the pandemic.”
Richard Pearson, director at investment platform EQi, added: “October’s inflation figures aren’t quite the jump we saw in September. With regions of the UK in a variety of local lockdowns at the time, there was an increase of just 0.2%, but an increase all the same.
“As restaurants and hospitality businesses were barred from letting multiple households dine, we saw an increase in food shopping due to people being forced to endure their own cooking once again. The public also turned their hand to interior decorating, as local restrictions encouraged households to make their homes more cosy for the long winter ahead.
“Unfortunately the Christmas shopping season has been put on hold with the second lockdown and regional restrictions in full swing, with concerns of sustained restrictions once the English lockdown ends at the start of December. Retailers and restaurants have been forced to close up shop in what should be their busiest period in order to help stem the tide of Covid cases. Although online retailers will flourish during this period, as they did with the first lockdown, we will undoubtedly see a blow to next month’s figures.”
