Bank of England Gov. Andrew Bailey said there was still a chance the U.K. government could meet its forecast of halving inflation this year, even after data showed a stronger-than-forecast 8.7% year-over-year rise in consumer prices in April. The peak for inflation was 11.1%. Speaking at the WSJ CEO Council event in London, he said the central bank needed to focus on two aspects, food inflation and core inflation. Bailey said “spiral” was not the right word to describe wage inflation as he also said only about 30% of the impact of previous rate hikes has been passed through to the economy. The yield on the 2-year gilt surged 19 basis points to 4.32%.

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