Recession is the price of curbing UK inflation

Growth risk: A woman crosses the road outside the Bank of England in London. The central bank and policy makers are facing a dilemma as price increases take hold. — AP

LONDON: “Rising unemployment and the recession have been the price that we have had to pay to get inflation down. That price is well worth paying.”

It was May 16, 1991 when Norman Lamont, then finance minister in John Major’s Conservative government, uttered his infamous words as the consumer price index (CPI) of inflation peaked at over 8%.