Surprise hike in consumer prices

repayment - spłata, oddanie długu
But a sharp fall in mortgage repayments caused the Retail Prices Index (RPI), which includes housing costs, to fall to zero for the first time in 49 years.

beyond - poza
widespread - rozpowszechniony, powszechny
We have seen many prices return to the previous selling price in November, or even gone beyond that. And that is quite widespread.

harvest - zbiory, żniwa
courgette - cukinia
cucumber - ogórek
A poor harvest in Spain had led to much higher courgette and cucumber prices

stem - wynikać
The fall in RPI, as recorded in the latest Office for National Statistics data, stems largely from the fall in mortgage repayments after a series of interest rate cuts.

vast - duży, ogromny
to accustom - przyzwyczaić się
hardship - problem, trudność
For the vast majority of workers, accustomed as most of us are to an annual boost to our pay packets, a pay freeze or pay cut will feel like a hardship, especially while the CPI measure of inflation continues to rise.

contradictory - sprzeczny
Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vince Cable said the latest figures painted a "a very contradictory picture" and that it was very difficult to manage policy in such an environment.


Źródło: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7959564.stm