Andrew Bailey, the Governor of the Bank of England, has attacked British retailers for engaging in “greedflation,” accusing them of taking advantage of the cost of living crisis to raise prices far beyond what inflation would require.

Bailey claimed in an interview with the BBC this week that some retailers were “overcharging customers” as millions are grappling with rising prices in a battle to make ends meet.

He added specifically, that “If you look at petrol prices, some sellers of petrol have possibly been charging too much for it.”

The top economist asserted that, “moves by regulators on retail prices will help to lower inflation,” especially in the fuel market.

The BoE has projected that by the end of next year, inflation in the UK will have fallen back towards the 2% target rate.

In response to a question asking when interest rates may begin to decline, Bailey said, “I can’t give you a date as to when interest rates start to come down because that really depends upon what happens over the period of time ahead, but getting inflation down is the most important thing that we have to do.”

This week JPMorgan economists released projections which claimed the BoE would need to hike interest rates even higher, to 7% from the current 5%, if they are going to bring inflation under control. Those interest rate hikes would hit the household budgets of citizens even harder.

The BoE had told British households and businesses earlier this year that they should accept that they are now worse off financially, and give up on asking for increases in wages, which would only serve to push prices higher.

Huw Pill, the chief economist for the central bank attributed the skyrocketing prices in the UK to a series of inflationary shocks, such as the economic effects of the pandemic, the military action in the Ukraine, and shortages of crops. He accused British citizens of responding to their surging bills and other skyrocketing costs by trying to shift the burdens of inflation off onto others by demanding rising salaries commensurate with the inflation rate.