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mpc: 8 have a fixed population and the proportion of manual workers in the 2000 sample had not matched that in the previous year's survey. A36 Little new data on pay settlements had become available in September, because only a small fraction of companies normally reached settlements in the month. The Bank's twelve-month AEI- weighted mean had been unchanged at 3.0% in September. Public and private sector means had also been unchanged.

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Prices and costs

A37 The Bank's oil-inclusive commodity price index had risen by 5.8% in September, the largest monthly rise since May. This had raised the annual inflation rate from 16.8% to 21.7%. The monthly increase had reflected significant rises in the prices of all components of the index except domestic food. The fuels component of the index had risen by 9.7%, largely accounted for by the rise of around 12% (in sterling terms) in the average price of oil in September. The oil price had since fallen back by around 4% (in sterling terms) in October. The Bank 's oil-exclusive commodity price index had risen by 2.3% in September, and by 8.8% over the past year, the highest annual growth rate since April 1995. A38 Manufacturing input prices had risen by 2.8% in September, taking the annual inflation rate from 11.9% in August to 14.3%, its highest since June. On a quarterly basis, this meant that manufacturing input prices had risen by 4.6% in 2000 Q3, the largest rise since the start of the series in 1987. The large monthly rise had mainly reflected the sharp increase in the price of oil in September. There had also been rises in the prices of metals and of imported food. Input prices excluding food, drink, tobacco and petroleum had risen by 0.5% in September, taking the annual rate of inflation to 4.3%, the highest since November 1995. The CIPS manufacturing survey input price index had fallen from 56.2 in September to 55.5 in October, the lowest since September 1999. Output prices excluding excise duties (PPIY) had risen by 0.2% in September, leaving the annual inflation rate unchanged at 1.7%. October's CBI Quarterly Industrial Trends survey output price balance had risen to -12 from -15 in the previous quarter. A39 RPIX inflation had risen to 2.2% in September, up from 1.9% in the previous month. This had largely reflected higher contributions from petrol prices and household goods prices. RPI inflation had