The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) of the United Kingdom (UK) surged to 3 percent in January, its highest in 10 months, fueled by higher food prices, airfares, and education costs.
According to data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Wednesday, the UK's CPI rose sharply from 2.5 percent in December to 3 percent in January, exceeding economists' forecast of 2.8 percent.
Grant Fitzner, chief economist at the ONS, attributed the rise to higher airfares, which saw a smaller-than-usual drop compared to previous years, with January's airfare reductions being the smallest since 2020.
In addition, rising costs for food and education contributed significantly to the inflation spike.
The core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, rose from 3.2 percent to 3.7, in line with market expectations.
The Bank of England (BoE) has predicted that inflation would rise to 3.7 percent in the third quarter, and economic consultancy Pantheon Macroeconomics warned that inflation exceeding 4 percent later this year is not out of the question.
Markets now predict an 82 percent chance that the BoE will keep the benchmark interest rate unchanged at its March meeting, with only two potential rate cuts throughout 2025.
UK inflation soars due to rising food, airfare, education costs
UK inflation soars due to rising food, airfare, education costs
China's express delivery sector continued to post significant growth in the first 11 months of 2025, handling over 180 billion parcels to record a nearly 15 percent year-on-year increase, official data showed on Tuesday.
According to the State Post Bureau, the country's China's broader postal industry, which includes express delivery services, saw a total of 196.75 billion parcels from January through November, marking a 12.9 percent rise from the same period in 2024.
The postal industry's total business revenue exceeded 1.63 trillion yuan (over 230 billion U.S. dollars), up 6.7 percent year on year, the data showed.
Specifically, the overall express delivery revenue reached nearly 1.36 trillion yuan, a 7.1 percent increase compared to the previous year.
Same-city express deliveries amounted to 14.47 billion parcels, a 2.2 percent year-on-year increase, while cross-region deliveries surged by 16.3 percent to 162.44 billion parcels.
The total volume of express deliveries to overseas countries and China's Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan regions reached 3.83 billion parcels, a year-on-year increase of 11.3 percent.
In November alone, China's postal industry handled 19.49 billion parcels, up 3.8 percent year on year. Among these, more than 18 billion parcels were handled in express delivery sector, up 5 percent year on year.
In November, the postal industry's business revenue, excluding the direct business revenue of Postal Savings Bank, reached 162.68 billion yuan (over 23 billion U.S. dollars), a year-on-year decrease of 2.0 percent.
Specifically, express delivery revenue reached 137.65 billion yuan (around 19.5 billion U.S. dollars), showing a year-on-year decrease of 3.7 percent.
China's express delivery sector posts double-digit growth in first 11 months
