Asda in new price attack on Tesco

SUPERMARKETS giant Asda is launching another salvo in its price war with Tesco by pledging to slash more than £50m from shopping bills in the coming months.

The move comes as the British Retail Consortium (BRC) shows that fierce competition on the High Street pushed prices down last month, despite a raft of inflationary pressure.

Asda, owned by Wal-Mart, wants to wipe at least £53m from prices over the third quarter of the year.

The new attack follows £175m of price cuts by Asda so far this year. Its typical shopping basket of goods now costs 14% less than when it launched its Rollback price campaign in 1997.

The BRC's data shows that shop prices eased 0.06% in June compared with May, despite what director general Kevin Hawkins called 'inflationary pressures outside retailers' control'. Year-on-year, prices rose 0.74%.

Hawkins said the low levels of retail inflation showed the Bank of England should wait before it 'makes another unjustified and damaging rise in interest rates'.