UK inflation steady as crackers and cake drive monthly food price fall
Business reports
The UK's inflation rate remained unchanged in January, despite the first monthly fall in food prices in more than two years, official figures show.
Inflation, which measures how prices rise over time, was 4% last month.
The number surprised experts who had expected a rise in energy bills to push prices up at a faster rate.
However, the monthly drop in the price of food, including items such as crackers, cake, and crisps helped offset the rise in electricity and gas costs.
The 0.4% fall marked the first decrease in more than two years, with cooking sauce and instant coffee costs also easing.
inflation, which strips out the effect of items that can be more volatile, such as energy costs, alcohol, and tobacco. Service costs, which include housing services such as rent, repairs, sewage collection, house contents insurance and repair of household appliances, and council tax also rose.
Former deputy governor of the Bank of England, Sir Charlie Bean, suggested the Bank would probably not make a lot of the latest inflation figures.
He said that he would be "very surprised to see the Bank lowering interest rates" until pay growth eases too.
And while the "headline" inflation figure for January remained unchanged from the month before, prices are still rising.
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves made that point in response to the latest update: "Inflation is still higher than the Bank of England's target and millions of families are struggling with the cost of living."
How can I save money on my food shop?
Look at your cupboards so you know what you have already
Head to the reduced section first to see if it has anything you need
Buy things close to their best before date which will be cheaper and use your freezer