Good morning.
With just a day to go until the Bank of England’s interest rate decision, there’s yet another sign of how inflation is hurting households.
The latest index from the BRC showed shop price inflation almost doubled in January to hit its highest rate in nine years.
The figures showed growth accelerated across the board, with rising prices for goods from food to furniture – a worrying sign that inflation is becoming entrenched.
It follows official data showing the consumer price index leapt to a 20-year high of 5.4pc last month. The BRC index typically shows smaller changes than the CPI, which includes services and a larger range of goods.
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