Petrol price fall worth £5 a week

The average family is now a fiver a week better off than last year thanks to falling petrol prices, figures from supermarket Asda have shown.

Asda’s income tracker showed the average UK household had £169 a week of discretionary income left over in February, after paying essentials like rent and bills. The extra £5 a week marks the fastest growth in family spending power since November 2012.

The news comes as the UK’s official inflation benchmark, the Consumer Prices Index, slid to 1.7 per cent in February – the lowest for more than four years. Shoppers have so far been dipping into savings, but the prospect of wages overtaking inflation means a more sustainable recovery comes into view.

The cost of petrol, 5.1 per cent lower than a year earlier, was the main factor in improving household finances. But Asda’s chief executive, Andy Clarke, said “it’s still tough out there” for the chain’s 18 million customers.