Food: Prices

(asked on 25th April 2023) - View Source

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the (a) design, (b) implementation and (c) impact on food price inflation of the French Government's anti-inflation quarter initiative.


Answered by
Andrew Griffith Portrait
Andrew Griffith
Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
This question was answered on 3rd May 2023

The Chancellor regularly engages with his French counterpart on matters of shared interest, which has included policy approaches to managing inflation.

High inflation is not a challenge that is unique to the UK, with many advanced economies having seen record levels during the past 18 months. Food inflation in the UK is in line with other European countries and is lower than in Germany – so the UK is not alone in being impacted by this. We are helping the most vulnerable – who are the worst affected by rising food prices – by providing cost-of-living support worth an average of £3300 per household over this year and last.

The Prime Minister has set out that halving inflation this year is one of his highest priorities, and the fiscal approach the government set out at the Spring Budget will help achieve this objective. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecast that inflation will more than halve this year, falling to 2.9% by the end of 2023, before sustainably returning to target by the end of the forecast.

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