The British Independent Retail Association has said that while it’s happy to see the UK inflation rate dropping to 7.9% in June, it’s still concerned over food prices.
BIRA said the inflation rate for food is a worry as it reduces the discretionary spend that is the ‘lifeblood of thousands of independents. The ONS has announced that the UK’s rate of inflation dropped to 7.9% in June. This means the rate of price rises in the UK has slowed more than expected, down from 8.7% in May.
Falling fuel prices have contributed to the drop but food prices have risen less quickly than in June last year.
BIRA ceo Andrew Goodacre, said: “It is always good to see inflation falling and this month by a larger amount than expected.
“However, we remain concerned about food inflation at 17% because this reduces the discretionary spend that is the lifeblood of thousands of independent retailers. We can see that the producer price inflation ha fallen significantly and we must hope and expect the food price inflation to fall much more in the near future.
“I also hope that the larger than expected fall in inflation change the thinking at the Bank of England with regards to interest rates. Future increases may not be necessary and if thy insist n raining rates, we must surely expect the size of any increase to be reduced. Higher interest rates are hurting small retailers who may still be paying back bounce back loans and at very high rates.”
