Shop price inflation defied expectations to jump in January amid a warning that any suggestion it had peaked was “simply not borne out” by the figures.
Shop inflation overall was 1.5% higher than a year earlier – a significant increase on December’s 0.7% and the three-month average of 0.9% – as high business energy costs and the hike to National Insurance fed through to prices, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and NIQ.
