The fourth quarter survey undertaken by the Bureau for Economic Research (BER) showed that headline CPI inflation was forecast to average 3.7% (3.6% previously) in 2020 and to edge up to 4.2% (also 4.2% previously) in 2021 and 4.5% (4.6% previously) in 2022.
Business people continue to have higher inflation expectations than analysts and trade union officials for all forecast periods. Average inflation expectations over the next five years ticked up from 4.5% in Q3 to 4.7% in the fourth quarter.