The UK’s final post-Brexit border checks will cost food importers hundreds of millions of pounds under the government’s own internal estimates. British officials told industry executives to expect the new draft Target Operating Model, which includes proposals on how food and fresh produce from the EU is evaluated when it enters the country, will cost importers up to £400 million ($498 million) a year.
The estimate highlights how frictions in the trading relationship with the European Union will linger as the UK rolls out its final and much-delayed border checks on the bloc’s imports from October. Higher costs will pile more misery on shoppers who are already suffering the worst cost-of-living crisis in generations and the fastest increase in grocery bills in more than 45 years. It also adds to headaches for the Bank of England, which is trying to reduce inflation.
Source: bnnbloomberg.ca