Greedflation

 

A fable. A scorpion wishes to get to the other side of the river but is a non-swimmer. The scorpion asks a passing frog to carry him cross. The frog is highly suspicious and says how do I know you’re not going to sting me? Because if I do then I’ll drown as well says the scorpion. In mid-stream the scorpion stings the frog. The dying frog gasps Why? No choice, says the scorpion.’ It’s in my nature’.

‘Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey has denounced domestic retailers for being engaged in ‘greedflation,’ claiming that some of them have been taking advantage of rampant inflation by raising prices.

In an interview with the BBC Newsnight 5 July, Bailey said certain retailers were “overcharging customers” as millions of families struggle to make ends meet.

“If you look at petrol prices, some sellers of petrol have possibly been charging too much for it,” the BoE head suggested.

According to the top economist, “moves by regulators on retail prices will help to lower inflation,” particularly in the fuel market.

The BoE believes UK inflation will fall back to the 2% target towards the end of next year.

Asked when a fall in interest rates might be seen, Bailey responded: “I can’t give you a date as to when interest rates start to come down because that really depends upon what happens over the period of time ahead, but getting inflation down is the most important thing that we have to do.”

Meanwhile, economists at JPMorgan projected this week that BoE may have to further hike interest rates to 7% from the current 5% to bring inflation under control, hitting household budgets even harder.

Earlier this year, the BoE warned that British households and businesses needed to accept that they were worse off and should stop asking for wage increases and pushing prices higher. The regulator’s chief economist, Huw Pill, said at the time that “a series of inflationary shocks” generated by the pandemic, the conflict in Ukraine, and crop shortages have sent prices in the UK to a 40-year high. He claimed that in response to surging bills and other rising costs, workers and businesses were attempting to transfer the impact of inflation onto each other.’