U.K. inflation probably accelerated at the fastest pace since October 2008 in February, which may sharpen the divide among Bank of England policy makers on whether to raise interest rates to tame price pressures.

Consumer prices rose 4.2 percent from a year earlier compared with a 4 percent increase in January, according to the median forecast of 32 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. The Office for National Statistics in London will publish the data at 9:30 a.m. on March 22.

Inflation has held above the central bank’s 2 percent target for 14 months after commodity prices surged and the pound’s 25 percent drop on a trade-weighted basis since the start of 2007 boosted import costs. Bank officials split four ways at last month’s policy meeting as they gauged the threat from inflation against the sustainability of the recovery. 

(Bloomberg)