Wednesday 23rd July 2008
Price rises are negatively affecting four in ten Britons' personal finances, data firm Mintel said today.
According to new research from the body, released today, just 51 per cent of people now say that they feel "comfortably off" - down from 64 per cent two years ago.
The continuing effects of the credit crunch, coupled with price rises for food and fuel, have been blamed for this trend.
Commenting, Toby Clark, senior finance analyst at Mintel, said: "The good news is that the vast majority of people can still afford to make ends meet.
"But there has clearly been a deterioration in people's perception of their financial situation over the past two years, as rising interest rates and higher living costs have really started to take hold."
Most recent results for the government's inflation benchmark, CPI, shows that price rises have hit 3.8 per cent.
This is a 16-year high, and is 1.8 per cent above the Bank of England's own inflation target.
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UK economy
News that Alex Salmond, the leader of the ruling SNP in Scotland, has been somewhat liberal with his recent comments about housing budgets and assistance has caught the attention of opposition... 
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