A possible interest rate reduction remains on a knife edge two days from the Bank of England's decision.
Financial markets reckon there's a 50-50 chance that the rate could be decreased from 5.25% to 5%, though many believe the bank may wait until September to do so.
It follows food inflation moving to its slowest rate (2.3%) in July since December 2021, suggesting price pressures are beginning to ease.
Shop prices have only increased by 0.2% over the year to July, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and NeilsenIQ, while prices have decreased by 0.1% in the last month.
However, service inflation remains at 5.7%, which may steer the Bank of England to leave the base interest rate where it is.
Some forecasters, including Capital Economics and Pantheon Macroeconomics, are predicting the rate to remain unchanged for the time being.
Ruth Gregory, Capital's deputy chief of UK economics, said: "While it will be a very close call, the economy’s recent strength and the stickiness of services inflation leads us to think that the Bank of England will wait until its September meeting to cut interest rates from 5.25% to 5%."
Meanwhile, Deutsche Bank Research reckon five of the nine people on the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will vote to cut rates.
"It’s a close call. But, we think, the case for a rate cut rests on a shifting reaction function within the MPC, including stronger reliance on its inflation projections, forward-looking indicators of wage and services prices, as well as firming real rates," said Sanjay Raja, its chief UK economist.