Data Error Pushed Up UK Inflation in April, ONS Says

Britain’s statistics agency said it overstated the official inflation rate due to a mistake in numbers it was given on vehicle taxes, the latest in a string of errors to plague the country’s economic data.

The Office for National Statistics said Thursday the headline inflation rate was 0.1 percentage point higher than it should have been in April’s market-rattling figures, as a result of incorrect vehicle excise duty data from the government’s transport department. While the ONS will not revise its inflation estimate, it will use the correct data for May.