Shoppers around the world will pay even more for groceries this year than they did in 2022, according to retailers, consumer goods firms and investors, unless commodity costs decline or the shift to cheaper store-brand products accelerates, Reuters reported. Retailers and consumer goods producers have been stuck in tough price negotiations for more than a year now, with friction beginning in 2021 over COVID-related supply chain logjams.

Ukraine's monthly consumer price inflation quickened to 0.8% in January compared with the previous month, driven by higher food prices, the State Statistics Service said on Thursday, Reuters reported. It said in a statement that food prices rose by 1.4% last month because of increases in the price of fruits and vegetables. Monthly inflation stood flat at 0.7% in November and December 2022.

Some companies in Europe have said they may unwind price hikes introduced in recent years as soaring costs of energy and other raw materials have eased, potentially providing some relief to consumers, Reuters reported. The projected cuts are the latest sign that inflation in the euro zone has peaked and may encourage hopes of a soft landing for the region's economy, which have fuelled a stock market rally this year. They are not yet broad-based though.

Polish banks are sounding increasingly sanguine about a looming European Union court ruling that the country’s financial regulator once warned may spell a full-blown crisis for the industry, Bloomberg News reported. In the latest chapter of the saga centered around $17 billion of mainly Swiss franc-denominated loans, EU judges are set to rule whether banks can sue clients, who got their mortgage contracts canceled in courts — a way for the industry to recover some losses and deter future litigation.

Public transport, schools and refinery supplies in France were disrupted on Tuesday as trade unions led a third wave of nationwide strikes against President Emmanuel Macron's plans to make the French work longer before retirement, Reuters reported. Tuesday's multi-sector walkouts come a day after pension reform legislation began its bumpy passage through parliament, and are a test of Macron's ability to enact change without a working majority in the National Assembly.

Tax revenues from the country’s oil & gas sector will fall as fossil fuel prices drop, the UK government expects, restricting Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s spending power in the budget next month, Bloomberg News reported. Treasury officials estimate tax revenues in 2023-2024 from oil & gas will be £12.7 billion ($15.3 billion) lower than forecast in November as a result of the lower gas price, two people familiar with the matter said. That would wipe out the saving the government is due to make on supporting household energy bills as a result of the same price decrease, they said.

Poland’s central bank left interest rates on hold for a fifth month as signs of a global disinflation strengthened the case for a dovish majority of policy makers, Bloomberg News reported. The Monetary Policy Council held its benchmark rate at 6.75%, matching the expectations of all 32 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Governor Adam Glapinski has argued in the last few months against additional rate increases, warning that a deeper economic slowdown could trigger job cuts, which the monetary authority wants to avoid.

Tees Valley Lithium struck a preliminary deal to supply raw materials to the preferred buyer of collapsed UK battery startup Britishvolt Ltd., Bloomberg News reported. The early-stage lithium refiner signed a memorandum of understanding to supply toll-processed lithium to Recharge Industries, which has been selected as the preferred bidder for the majority of the insolvent battery firm’s business and assets. Tees Valley plans to produce the lithium at a refinery in the northeast of England that’s set to start operation in 2025.

Two Bank of England officials warned that Britain’s departure from the European Union is helping to stoke inflation and is one of the factors pushing up interest rates, Bloomberg News reported. Chief Economist Huw Pill said Monday the trade blow dealt by Brexit adds to risks of the UK economy overheating. Policy maker Catherine Mann earlier in the day said Brexit was a “unique” shock that’s fueling inflation in the UK.

British consumers would be limited to holding a maximum of 20,000 pounds ($24,000) each if the Bank of England goes ahead with a digital version of the British currency, BoE Deputy Governor Jon Cunliffe said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Britain's government said on Monday that it and the BoE were pressing on with work on a possible digital pound that was likely to enter circulation in the second half of this decade, though no final decision has been made on whether to go ahead.