"Further falls in the official rate of inflation, which are expected during the coming months, should be a boost to customers' budgets"
- Stephen Robertson, Director General at British Retail Consortium
U.K. shop price inflation fell to 1.4% in January from 1.7% in December, the British Retail Consortium announced on Wednesday. Food inflation declined to 3.7 per cent from 4.2 per cent in December. Non-flood inflation eased to zero from 0.3 per cent in the last month of 2011.
"Further falls in the official rate of inflation, which are expected during the coming months, should be a boost to customers' budgets and, crucially, should help to improve consumer confidence," said Stephen Robertson, Director General at British Retail Consortium.
"For there to be any significant improvement in retailers' fortunes in the coming year it's essential that people feel better about their personal finances and become more willing to spend."
U.K. stocks closed lower on Wednesday. The benchmark FTSE 100 index shed 0.24%, or 14.33 points, to 5,875.93. The FTSE All-Share Index declined 0.24%, or 7.42 points, to 3,034.15.
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