UK retail price inflation is at its lowest level in a year.

Industry figures show that prices in British chain stores increased at the slowest rate in a year in September, adding to indications that the UK's high inflation rate is likely to continue its current decline.

According to the British Retail Consortium, annual store price inflation dropped to 6.2% in September from 6.9% in August.

For the first time in more than two years, food costs were down month over month as food price inflation dropped for the fifth consecutive month, from 11.5% to 9.9%.

Inflation outside of food decreased from 4.7% to 4.4% annually.

Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC, stated that "we anticipate shop price inflation to continue to decline over the rest of the year."

The official consumer price index as a whole, which has declined from a peak of over 11% last October to 6.7% in August, is considered as having an early warning in the form of the BRC's shop pricing inflation indicator.

The Bank of England stopped its run of interest rates in September after 14 consecutive hikes, but it has emphasised that it would likely keep them high for a while to relieve the economy of inflationary pressures.

(Sources: investing.com, reuters.com)