Battle for customers drives down UK shop inflation
China DailyCompetition for customers between retailers has played a big part in shop price inflation in the United Kingdom falling to its lowest level in two years, newly published figures have revealed. Food inflation dropped from 5 percent to 3.7 percent, and non-food inflation plummeted down from 1.3 percent to 0.2 percent, as retailers battled to win over customers who have been spending less due to the cost-of-living crisis, leading to hopes that the worst inflationary chapter the country has seen in 40 years could be moving toward a close. "While Easter treats were more expensive than in previous years due to high global cocoa and sugar prices, retailers provided cracking deals on popular chocolates, which led to price falls compared to the previous month," said the BRC's chief executive, Helen Dickinson. In early 2023, the United Kingdom's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak issued five key policy pledges, with one of them being to halve inflation, which was then at 10.7 percent, saying: "I fully expect you to hold my government and I to account on delivering those goals." February's overall inflation rate in the UK was 3.4 percent, down from 4 percent the previous month, and gradually moving toward the long-standing Bank of England target of 2 percent.