Howard Archer Due Quotations

This reinforces our belief that consumer spending will remain subdued for some time to come despite September's pick-up in retail sales.

The increase in inflation in August was primarily due to higher prices for fuel and some food items, while core consumer inflation actually edged back down to 1.7% after spiking up to 1.8% in July from 1.5% in June.

This subdued growth is expected to help to contain underlying inflationary pressures and risks, underpinning our belief that interest rates will be cut by a further 25 basis points in February or March.

Relatively subdued consumer spending, intense domestic and international competition, and high input costs continue to dampen ... the sector.

The fall in headline annual producer output price inflation in March was primarily due to base effects reflecting the particularly sharp rise in producer prices a year ago as oil prices surged.