Rishi Sunak will ask stores to set prices for basic foodstuffs

[ad_1]

A source ranked 10 said the proposals were at the “drawing board” stage.

There was acknowledgment that supermarkets “don’t operate on huge profit margins,” the source said, but added: “The pressures are such that we’re working with retailers on anything that can be done on their end to bring prices down for consumers.” Talks with retailers were in the “early stages.” .

The French government’s deal with retailers was announced in March, when Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said a deal in which retail groups agreed to cut prices would turn the April-June period into an “anti-inflationary quarter”.

Earlier this month, Le Maire said the initiative had been extended for another quarter, with food inflation soaring to a record 15 percent. He later threatened to raise taxes on retailers to “recoup profits unfairly made at the expense of consumers” if they refused to cut prices further.

Last week, it emerged that UK inflation fell less-than-expected in April, with consumer prices rising 8.7 percent year-on-year, down from 10.1 percent in March.

Britain has the highest combined inflation rate among the G7, along with Italy. On Saturday, three former BoE rate-setters warned that interest rates, which rose to 4.5 percent earlier this month, would need to rise as much as 6 percent to stamp out inflation.

[ad_2]