Shoppers have got used to paying bargain-basement rates for their goods and will not welcome any move by embattled retailers to push prices up next year, according to a survey.

In a poll of 2,000 consumers, published today, Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets found that fewer than half believe that prices will rise next year. Retailers have embarked on a rash of deeply discounted clearance sales and, in some cases, are battling to stay afloat.

The 44 per cent of respondents to the survey that are bracing themselves for prices on the high street to rise represents a record low, according to Lloyds TSB. The bank said that the findings of its latest monthly poll compared with 90 per cent in July and almost 60 per cent in November, meaning that the number has halved since the summer.

Trevor Williams, the chief economist of Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets, said: “This aggressive pre-Christmas discounting on the high street has encouraged consumers to set their price expectations low for the year ahead.”

Mr Williams contrasted the sharp change in consumer sentiment with the summer, when oil was touching highs above $140 a barrel and a clear majority of those surveyed felt that prices were on the way up.

Lloyds TSB’s latest “consumer barometer” survey found that on average those surveyed believed that the Bank of England would move to increase interest rates next year from the present low of 2 per cent, despite the prevailing view in the money markets that the cost of borrowing will fall again early next year.

The bank said that the presumption that interest rates would go up again indicated that worried consumers would be more likely to save for harsher times ahead than spend in the shops now.

The average expectation on inflation settled at 4.6 per cent in December, down from 5.7 per cent the previous month, its survey found. The official inflation rate, based on consumer prices, is 4.1 per cent, suggesting that buyers have become convinced that the economy is stalling.

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