UK shop prices dropped at faster rate ahead of Brexit vote: BRC

PanARMENIAN.Net - British shop prices fell in the run-up to the June 23 vote to leave the European Union as supermarkets cut prices to compete with discount chains, an industry survey showed on Wednesday, July 6, according to Reuters.

Shop prices in early June were 2.0 percent lower than a year earlier, a bigger decline than the 1.8 percent annual drop reported in May and the sharpest fall since February, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said.

Food prices were 0.8 percent lower than in June 2015, the steepest decline in more than a year.

"While the good news for household budgets continues, prices in store will eventually rise again," said Helen Dickinson, chief executive officer of the BRC.

"However, the time it takes for any price increases to make a re-appearance will depend on a combination of factors including the future value of the pound, commodity prices and any eventual impact of last week's Brexit vote on input costs."

Sterling fell to a new 31-year low against the dollar on Tuesday. While this might help British exporters, it will push up the price of importing many of the household goods and food that Britons consume.

The BRC conducted its survey between June 6 and June 10.

Britain's official inflation measure, which includes a wider range of goods an services than the BRC measure, recorded annual price growth of 0.3 percent in May.