The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) measure of price inflation has reached 4.5% for the year to August 2011, up from 4.4% the previous month.
This rise in price inflation was attributed to higher prices for clothing and footwear, petrol and energy.
Other prices, notably computer games and games consoles, saw a fall in prices between July and August.
The Retail Prices Index (RPI) measure of price inflation, which includes mortgage interest costs, also increased in the year to August.
RPI stood at 5.2% for the year to August 2011, up from 5% in the previous month.
Inflation remains stubbornly above the Bank of England target of 2% for CPI. The Bank continues to believe it will fall back to target within the next two years.
Once the temporary impact of higher VAT starts to fall out of the inflation calculation from the start of next year, we believe that inflation could fall quite swiftly to the Bank target or even lower.
The publication of the latest inflation figures today have kept the possibility of further quantitative easing from the Bank of England alive.
With the economic recovery continuing to stagnate, a growing number of economists now believe that additional QE is needed to get the UK economy going once more.
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