british finance minister jeremy hunt stressed friday that his conservative governments priority was tackling high inflation even at the expense of a recession with britons facing a costofliving crisis prime minister rishi sunak has vowed to halve uk inflation this year  although much is down to central bank policy and market forces it is a big task but we must deliver it and we will even if it means precipitating a recession hunt told sky news in reference to sunaks pledge he added in the end inflation is a source of instability and if we want to have prosperity if we want to grow the economy we have to support the bank of england in the difficult decisions that they take the boe this month lifted its key interest rate to 450 percent its 12th increase in a row as it seeks to dampen inflation but risks worsening the squeeze on living standards retail lenders tend to match the central banks increases to borrowing costs sparking higher loan repayments and denting economic activity data showed this week uk inflation slowed to a 13month low in april but remains elevated at 87 percent as soaring food prices offset weaker energy costs the rate is still more than four times the boes official 20percent target core inflation  which is also closely watched by the boe and strips out volatile energy and food costs  accelerated to 68 percent or the highest since 1992 that cemented expectations of another boe interestrate hike with some investors predicting it could reach 55 percent by yearend the news sent the uk governments longterm borrowing costs higher the yield on the 10year uk government bond rose friday to 4383 percent it had spiked to almost 464 percent in october following unfunded tax cuts that sank the shortlived administration of sunaks predecessor liz truss over the past year britain has been plagued by strikes as high inflation erodes the value of wages