Advertisement
UK BRC Shop Price Inflation Hits Record 8.0%
(RTTNews) - UK shop price inflation hit a record high in January as retailers offered fewer discounts amid rising input costs, data published by the British Retail Consortium showed Wednesday.
The BRC- NielsenIQ shop price index rose 8.0 percent on a yearly basis in January following a 7.3 percent gain in December.
Overall food price inflation increased to 13.8 percent annually. Reflecting higher food production costs, prices of fresh food were up 15.7 percent. At the same time, non-food prices moved up 5.1 percent.
BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said as retailers still face ongoing headwinds from rising energy bills and labor shortages, prices are yet to peak and will likely remain high in the near term.
"Until inflation starts to slow it's unlikely that people will feel better about their personal finances or be willing to spend more and it will be a few more months before any fall in global commodity or supply chain costs work through to shop prices," Mike Watkins, Head of Retailer and Business Insight, NielsenIQ said.
Due to the slowdown in motor fuel inflation, consumer prices grew 10.5 percent on a yearly basis in December, which was the weakest in three months and core inflation held steady at 6.3 percent.
The UK central bank has raised its interest rates over the last nine consecutive meetings, taking the bank rate to 3.50 percent, the highest level since October 2008. The bank is widely expected to lift the rate again by 50 basis points on Thursday.
UK Mortgage Approvals Lowest In 8 Months
UK House Prices Fall More Than Expected
UK Retail Sales Rise; Consumer Sentiment Weakens
UK Auto Production Surges On Foreign Demand
UK Manufacturing Orders Improve In April
UK Inflation Slows To 2.6%
UK Job Market Remains Strong
