The British Retail Consortium and NielsenIQ reported that inflationary pressures will increase in May, with inflationary pressures likely to increase before they can be lowered.
Retail prices rose by 2.8% in May, up from 2.7% in April, the report said. They also reached the highest inflation rate since July 2011.
With little sign that the cost burden on retailers will be lessened, they will be left with little room for maneuver, especially those whose supply chains are affected by lock-downs in China and the war in Ukraine, Helen Dickinson, the British Retail Consortium's chief executive, said. Food inflation jumped to 4.3% in May, a year-over-year basis, and rose from 3.5% in the previous month, also reaching its highest inflation rate since April 2012, the report said. In May, fresh-food inflation accelerated to 4.5% from 3.5% in April, and ambient-food prices rose to 4% from 3.5% in the previous month. Nonfood prices fell to 2% in May from 2.2% in April, according to the report.