Deflation on UK high streets eases in June - BRC

LONDON, (Reuters) - Prices in British high street stores fell at a slower pace last month as consumer sentiment strengthened, the British Retail Consortium said on Wednesday.

The BRC said that its shop price index dropped by 1.3 percent in June, the smallest decline since January, after a 1.9 percent drop in May.

"Consumer spending, one of the main drivers of the recovery, should remain robust over the summer," BRC Director General Helen Dickinson said.

Britain's broader official measure of inflation, the consumer prices index, showed its first year-on-year fall in prices in more than 50 years in April, before rising back above zero in May.

The Bank of England expects the CPI to start rebounding rapidly towards its 2 percent target later this year as the steep fall in oil prices in late 2014 drops out of year-on-year comparisons.

The BRC said it expected that low inflation, combined with rising wages and consumer lending, would help ensure demand remained robust over the coming months.

((Reporting by David Milliken; editing by William Schomberg))