Inflation is now at its highest level in three decades

Consumer prices index inflation annual rate

10%

Black Wednesday

Covid-19

8

6

Brexit vote

2008

financial crisis

4

2

0

-2

1990

2000

2010

2020

Black Wednesday, the UK government is forced to withdraw the pound from the European exchange rate mechanism

Covid-19 causes the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression

10%

8

Gordon Brown hands independence to the Bank of England for setting interest rates to manage inflation

2008

financial

crisis

Brexit vote triggers a sharp fall in the pound, leading inflation to rise as imports become more expensive

6

4

2

0

-2

1990

2000

2010

2020