UK household support package to have 'minimal impact' on inflation: Sunak

Sunak said on Thursday high inflation was now causing "acute distress".

British finance minister Rishi Sunak said on Friday his new 15 billion pound ($19 billion) cost-of-living support package would have an impact of less than 1 percentage point on inflation.

Sunak had been under heavy political pressure to act to alleviate the biggest squeeze on households' disposable income since the 1950s, but some critics had warned more government spending risked exacerbating price pressures.

"My view is that it will have a minimal impact on inflation," Sunak told Sky News. Asked if it would be a one percentage point impact, he said: "Much, much less than that." British inflation hit a 40-year high