Higher prices in the UK will not only squeeze the pocketbook of the average Briton. It will also hit the government hard. Talk of double-digit inflation this winter — Citigroup now thinks the rate could surpass 18 per cent — comes as energy prices continue to soar. But the country’s over-reliance on inflation-linked debt will mean punitively higher financing costs too.
Britain pioneered the issuance of index-linked bonds, or “linkers”, in the 1980s with the rationale that the government’s commitment to reducing inflation directly lowers borrowing costs. This would remove any temptation to inflate away debt.
That premise has proved flimsy in 2022. UK government debt now equals its annual economic output, one of the highest proportions of any developed economy. Soaring inflation, through inflation adjusting, has exacerbated the pain of excessive debt.