LONDON (Reuters) – The UK’s ONS ruled on Wednesday that government rebates on energy bills to households would not be directly reflected in the country’s inflation statistics.
Economists and bond investors have been closely watching whether statisticians would categorize support packages as consumer price cuts that directly reduce headline inflation – and government-generated inflation-linked bonds Debt interest cost. However, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) ruled that the Energy Bill Support Scheme (EBSS) should be seen as increasing household income rather than reducing spending.
“Therefore…the payment will not affect the Consumer Price Index including owner-occupiers’ Cost of Housing (CPIH), Consumer Price Index (CPI) or Retail Price Index (RPI),” the ONS said in a statement. , EBSS includes 400 GBP ($8564) discount on household bills, payable in six-month instalments from October.
The two candidates to become the UK’s next prime minister – Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and ex-Finance Secretary Rishi Sunak – on how to deal with soaring energy prices Conflict, frontrunner Truss initially said she would rather cut taxes than give “handouts”.
Both sides acknowledge that the poorest in society need support, with the government further saying on Friday that households should look at how much energy they use – previously saying people would know what to do.
Leadership Contest ends September 5th.
($1 = 0.8564 GBP)
