The cost of living crisis is the result of rising prices across energy, food, fuel and other costs. Rising energy costs have played a big role in the cost of living crisis, and energy prices started to rise after life got back to normal after Covid, and rose sharply after the start of the war in Ukraine. That’s because there was less oil and gas available from Russia.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine also affected the price of certain products, such as wheat and sunflower oil. Rising oil and gas prices doesn’t just affect our energy bills and the price of petrol and diesel at the pumps, it also affects packaging costs (as plastics are made from oil) and distribution costs. So, higher oil prices have helped increase the price of other goods.
Rising interest rates have resulted in higher mortgages for people on a variable rate mortgage and are feeding through into some rental costs. People are also feeling the squeeze because wages haven’t kept up with inflation.