LONDON, June 17 (UPI) -- Inflation in Britain hit a 16-year high in May, prompting an explanatory letter from Bank of England to the country's Chancellor, officials said.
Bank of England Governor Mervyn King is required to send a letter to the Chancellor when the consumer price index rises above 3 percent, The Times of London reported Tuesday.
In May, the CPI reached 3.3 percent. It is expected to reach 4 percent for all of 2008, the Times reported.
The bank's target for inflation is 2 percent, but "inflation is likely to remain markedly above the target until well into 2009," King said.
"I expect, therefore, that this will be the first of a sequence of open letters over the next year or so," King added.
Food prices, up 7 percent annually and crude oil prices, up 40 percent since the first of the year, have pushed the overall inflation rate, the Times reported.
With the bank's focus on inflation, "interest rates will not becoming down further any time soon," said Howard Archer, chief an economist at Global Insight. "If the Bank of England does act in the near term, it will be to raise interest rates," Archer said.
