Cost of living pressures ‘have eased’

Inflation is expected to have eased at the start of the year, giving consumers a further reprieve from the Brexit-induced jump in the cost of living.

A consensus of economists are expecting the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) January consumer price index (CPI) to come in at 2.9 per cent, down from 3 per cent in December and easing further from the most recent peak of 3.1 per cent in November.

Britons are believed to have benefited from slower food price inflation, which surged as a weak pound made imports more expensive, as well as a less notable rise in petrol prices compared with a year earlier.

If tomorrow’s ONS figures match forecasts, it would mark the second drop for inflation since June.

But some experts are expecting inflation to hold steady at 3 per cent.