BRITS face paying an extra £20 a month on food by the end of the summer due to rocketing prices, a Cabinet minister has said.
Environment Secretary George Eustice warned the cost of supermarket staples is set to rise by up to 8% as inflation grips.
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That would see the average food shop for each household in the country rise by a fiver a week, from £63.70 to £68.80.
Meanwhile a typical family of four would be see their bills rocketing by £32 a month and hitting a high of £428.
The cost of a point of beer would rise from a UK average of £4.07 to £4.40, reaching an eye-watering £5.22 in London.
Other staples would also increase in price adding 10p to a typical loaf of bread, 5p to a pint of milk and 18p to a dozen eggs.
Mr Eustice, who is responsible for Britain’s farming policy, acknowledged people will face a tough time with rising bills.
But he downplayed warnings by some industry bodies that the cost of essentials like milk could rocket by half%.
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He said: “We are likely to see some food price inflation between now and the end of the summer.
“There are undoubtedly going to be pressures on food prices caused mainly by the high gas price which means higher energy costs, higher diesel costs for tractors on farms, and crucially higher fertiliser costs.
“And farmers in many sectors are therefore having to pass that through the system.”
Mr Eustice cited research by the Institute of Grocery Distribution which calculates food prices will go up on average by 6-8% this summer.
He warned: “We know that in some categories it might be a bit higher than that, but a 50% increase in retail prices is highly unlikely.”
The aftermath of the Covid pandemic coupled with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has sparked surging energy prices.
And today new figures emerged showing the UK economy has inched up 0.1% as a cost of living crisis continues to pummel families’ finances.
Official figures show that gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 0.1% in February 2022.
That marks a slowdown from the month before, when the economy grew by 0.8% – rebounding after the rapid spread of Omicron at the end of last year.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) measures GDP monthly and it shows if the economy is growing or not.
SLOW GROWTH
It’s important because a higher rate of growth means there will more likely be an increase in jobs of offer, pay rises, and more money to invest in keeping the country up and running.
But growth slowed much more sharply than experts expected – economists had predicted it would go up 0.3%.
Figures show that the services sector was the main driver behind the slight increase, growing 0.2%.
That was fuelled by a bounce back in the tourism industry as the country got back on track after being hit by a spike in Covid cases – the sector saw growth of 33.1%.
But output from the construction and production sectors decreased by 0.1% and 0.6% respectively, dragging down the overall rate of growth.
It means that the UK economy is now 1.5% above its pre-Covid level of February 2020.
Experts have predicted that economic growth will slow this year as inflation rockets and the cost of energy, fuel, food and transport goes up.
Rising prices have been forced up further by the Russia-Ukraine crisis, which is pushing up the cost of energy and fuel prices.
As a result, the government’s Office for Budget Responsibility cut its forecast for growth in 2022 to 3.8%, down from its previous forecast of 6%, set in October.
It also predicts that inflation will hit a 40-year high of 8.7% later this year.
Interest rates also went up to 0.75% in March – increasing the cost of borrowing for families.
It means that families are struggling to make ends meet under the cost of living crisis.
It means that households are facing a £1,000 drop in income as budgets are squeezed to the max.
