Inflation question

[BresciaBike]

I saw this quote re. inflation, "Undeniably we are back to normal now." https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9rr73w103vo

I'm skeptical but is that true? What is inflation atm and what is its usual kind of range?

Second part of this post, where do I find the current inflation rate? Is it as simple as googling or is there a reliable public body to refer to? I imagine the rate itself is quite dynamic too.

Yep, I am ill informed on the economy and yep I'd like to learn more.

It does not feel like inflation is back to normal. Prices still seem to be increasing all around. This is not based on statistics, but rather what I have observed.

The rate most commonly quoted in the UK is the CPI which is published monthly by the Office for National Statistics. You can easily find their latest one, eg https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices - they headline with CPIH, but if you scroll down you'll find CPI at 2.3% as headlined in the news this week.

This means that over the past year, a representative basket of goods has risen by 2.3% (April 2023 to April 2024). I believe the news mentioned that heating bills have come down, so that will have helped, even if some other things have risen more sharply.

It has been volatile. In the year Oct 2021 to October 2022 the rate was 11.1%, very high for recent decades. The rate has been slowing since then.

Remember that the rate falling (from 11.1% to 2.3%) doesn't mean things have got cheaper, it just means the rate at which they have been rising has slowed. 2.3% is a much more normal level - indeed the Bank of England has the specific job of getting the annual rate to 2%.

That's super helpful, @DadDadDad , thank you.