Inflation Rate In Northern Ireland Below UK Average

Now most of us may feel a little surprised about this latest news, but it appears that Northern Ireland has a lower inflation rate than the UK average. Although prices have been spiraling over the last few months, with the average consumers weekly shop going up alarmingly in price, we aren’t as badly off as some other parts of the UK.

The Price Of Home Heating Oil Fell

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) have revealed that the UK inflation rate was running at a total of 10.1%, whereas the inflation rate in Northern Ireland is running at 7.5%. There does seem to be one particular reason for this and that is that many homes here use oil for home heating whereas other parts of the UK predominantly use gas. The price of home heating oil fell in March in comparison to the same time the previous year, but in contrast the price of gas certainly did not.

This doesn’t of course mean that things are so much rosier here than in most of the UK. The price of goods in our supermarkets and shops have risen dramatically and most people are finding that their weekly wage doesn’t stretch as far as it once did. Add this to pretty static pay terms, particularly in the public sector, and also the increase in interest rates and we have a perfect storm for a lot of households across the country.

Fall In Sales Of HGV’s

Onto other matters and another thing that has fallen is the number of HGV sales in Northern Ireland. The rest of the UK recorded an increase in sales of HGV’s in the first quarter of the year, but here a decrease in sales was recorded. There was a total of 325 new HGV’s registered in Northern Ireland up to the end of March 2023, whereas the total was 328. This as we can see is a very small fall in the total, however the rest of the UK fared a lot better. There was a 17.2% increase in sales in England over the same period, with Wales recording an even bigger increase of 22.9%.

Why we are not selling so many here as in the rest of the UK is a matter of conjecture, but hopefully we will see that sales pick up in this sector as we move further away from the precipice of a recession.