More UK firms plan to raise prices – Lloyds

div classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodivpLONDON Reuters – Almost six out of 10 British companies plan to raise prices in the coming year due to rising cost pressures, a monthly survey by Lloyds, a bank, showed on Friday.p

pLloyds said its wider measure of business confidence was unchanged in April after a sharp fall in March following Russias invasion of Ukraine.pdivdivdiv classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodiv

p“Overall confidence is above the longterm average, but it is still expected that growth will moderate over the coming months and many businesses will remain cautious as they face into these headwinds,” Lloyds Bank economist HannJu Ho said.p

pSome 58 of companies said they intended to raise prices, up from 55 in March and the highest since this question was first asked in January 2018.p

pBritish consumer price inflation hit a 30year high of 7.0 in March, and is likely to rise further this year due to a surge in energy prices.p

pThe Bank of England is concerned that inflation is feeding through into a widening range of goods and services as businesses pass on increased costs for energy and other raw materials.p

pEconomists expect the central bank to raise interest rates to 1.0 from 0.75 on May 5, taking borrowing costs to their highest since 2009.p

pHigher inflation is beginning to weigh on growth as consumers disposable income gets squeezed.p

pAlthough businesses are raising pay by more than last year, pay rises are typically well below the rate of inflation. Some 27 of firms in the Lloyds survey planned to raise pay by at least 3, rising to 42 of larger companies.

Hiring intentions weakened for a second month in a row to their lowest since August 2021, with 44 of firms planning to increase staff numbers.p

The Lloyds survey was based on responses between April 1 and April 19 from 1,200 businesses with a turnover of at least 250,000 pounds 310,975.

1 0.8039 poundsp

pp Reporting by David Milliken Editing by William Schombergp

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