UK businesses predict record price rises will offset higher wage bills

UK businesses expect to raise their prices at the fastest pace since records began to offset higher wage costs driven by a tight labour market, according to an influential survey by the Bank of England.

Business leaders in the central bank’s decision maker panel forecast in September that they would increase prices by 6.6 per cent in the year ahead, up from 6.5 per cent in August, the highest since the survey began in 2017.

The…