UK shop prices registered sharpest decline in over a year in August

Shop prices in the United Kingdom (UK) fell by 0.4% in August, marking the fastest rate of decline since June 2018, the BRC-Nielsen Shop Price Index (SPI) released earlier today showed. 

August's deflation is below the 12- and 6-month average price increases, both of 0.3%. 

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has associated the 0.4% drop in prices with weak spending and competition in the face of Brexit uncertainty.

Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, said:

Consumers were the real winners this month as prices fell at their fastest rate in over a year. Prices of non-food goods fell at a faster rate than both the previous month and the 12-month average, while food inflation eased slightly due to higher levels of discounting from supermarkets.