retail inflation falls to its lowest level in two years, but experts warn we're not out of the woods just yet. and what's a centi—billionaire? according to forbes, there are more of them than ever before. stay with us to find out more. welcome to world business report. i'm lukwesa burak. we start in the uk and some news that may put further pressure on the bank of england to cut interest rates sooner rather than later. shop price inflation has eased to its lowest rate since december 2021,

coming in at 1.3 percent in march, down from 2.5 percent in february. that's according to the latest data from the british retail consortium. the fall has been driven by lower food prices and more competition between supermarkets. earlier i spoke to harvir dhillon, who's an economist from the british retail consortium. i began by asking him if the outlook of the data is sustainable. it will be sustainable over the coming months. so, we're still expecting to see a quite sharp fall in the headline rate of inflation during april, when ofgem — that's the energy price regulator — when its price cap comes down. so, for the coming months, we should see more easing pressure in terms of inflation. now, whether towards the end of the year that persists still remains open to some uncertainty. ok, so how is this

impacting us in the pocket? so, in terms of how it's impacting us, i mean, of course, inflation has eased. it's now the lowest since the end of 2021, which is amazing, but prices are still higher than they were a year ago. so if you're a consumer that is looking at what you're spending on your supermarket bill, for example, this year compared to last year, it almost certainly will be slightly higher. but at least if we look at, say, last month versus february, so the month before that, then you probably will have noticed some easing price pressures there. are there any particular prices that are remaining stubbornly high? so, we have a constituent category in our food basket of items, if you like, called ambient products, so these are typically kept on the shelf, not refrigerated. so if you think about items such as chocolate, jam, confectionery,

we may have heard on the news that cocoa prices have reached record highs and doubtless in, say, chocolate, you can see inflation remaining still fairly elevated. shares of donald trump's social media company, trump media, plunged more than 20% on monday. the drop wiped out the gains from its debut last week. it comes after the company disclosed it recorded $58 million in losses last year and admitted it would struggle to meet its financial liabilities going forward. our correspondent erin delmore is in new york. what does it say about the trump media business model? truth social is the social media company donald trump started about a year after he was banned from twitter and facebook following the 6th of january capitol building riots. that has become his main avenue for talking to his followers,

his social media and political followers, a place to share thoughts, criticisms etc. as you can imagine, it's really attractive to those people who want to know what donald trump is thinking and feeling, so it has achieved something of what we have called mean stocks status. if that is familiar, we have seen it with a mcem game stock, and they ride on investor enthusiasm, especially when it comes to small investors, and it can command share prices that are higher than what the revenue could typically warrant. it also makes them extremely volatile, meaning they can go up or down suddenly. where does this leave the former president himself with sizeable legal bills still in play? right. and this is an interesting vehicle to figuring out if you can generate more money to pay those legal bills. this is a way for his followers to put their money where their mouths are, so to speak, their way to kind of vote for him with

their dollars. what is interesting is that there is a provision in the deal that former president trump can't sell his stop or use his shares as collateral for a loan for six months. there was a hope that that prohibition would be relaxed, but not yet. that prohibition would be relaxed, but not yet-— that prohibition would be relaxed, but not et. . , ., but not yet. erin, always a delight. thank yom — forbes has just revealed its latest world billionaires list, a ranking of the world's richest people. at the top, for the second year running, the lvmh boss, bernard arnault — who oversees the luxury french brand, louis vuitton. his net worth's understood to have grown io%, to $233 billion dollars. the forbes list includes a record—breaking 2,781 billionaires, more than ever before. let's hear now from chase peterson—withorn, who oversaw the compliation

of the list. he's forbes senior editor, wealth. that must have been interesting reading for you. how would you describe the big trends in billionaires at the moment? why are we getting so many? its a billionaires at the moment? why are we getting so many?— we getting so many? its a banner ear for we getting so many? its a banner year for billionaires. _ we getting so many? its a banner year for billionaires. as _ we getting so many? its a banner year for billionaires. as you - we getting so many? its a banner year for billionaires. as you said, | year for billionaires. as you said, there are more than ever, and they are richer than ever, worth $14.2 trillion, which is $2 trillion more than last year. some of the major trends are that stock markets around the world are up, and these people, by and large, are some of the biggest beneficiaries of the stock market because they own large shares in publicly traded companies around the world. as markets are up, so are the world. as markets are up, so are the billionaires. you can see that especially in technology. tech stocks are going through the roof,

there is a tonne of enthusiasm for al, so we've seen a lot of new ai, so we've seen a lot of new billionaires come into the this ranks year who have ai companies or who are using ai in their business, but it is also really boosting the values of a lot of traditional tech billionaires, like mark zuckerberg, as well. a banner yearfor billionaires, especially for anybody who has anything to do with al. billionaires, especially for anybody who has anything to do with ai. 50 that's who has anything to do with al. so that's the way to do it. centi—billionaires, that is 11 zeros, if you can even imagine that — what are they doing that is so right and where am i going wrong? right at the top, you have mr louis with tom —— louis vuitton. right at the top, you have mr louis with tom -- louis vuitton.- with tom -- louis vuitton. that's riaht, with tom -- louis vuitton. that's right. and — with tom -- louis vuitton. that's right. and he _ with tom -- louis vuitton. that's right. and he is— with tom -- louis vuitton. that's right, and he is ahead _ with tom -- louis vuitton. that's right, and he is ahead of - with tom -- louis vuitton. that's right, and he is ahead of elon - with tom -- louis vuitton. that's i right, and he is ahead of elon musk.

elon musk isjust right, and he is ahead of elon musk. elon musk is just barely ahead of jeff bezos of amazon, at $194 billion. these are people who have created, they are basically all self—made. most of them are involved in tech companies, and they have held onto a good portion of their ownership. held onto a good portion of their ownership-— held onto a good portion of their ownershi -. . , ., , ownership. chase, i need to get this final question _ ownership. chase, i need to get this final question very _ ownership. chase, i need to get this final question very quickly. - ownership. chase, i need to get this final question very quickly. in - final question very quickly. in compiling the list, was their full transparency, or is this an estimate as it is? �* , , ., as it is? it's definitely an estimate. _ as it is? it's definitely an estimate. we _ as it is? it's definitely an estimate. we have - as it is? it's definitely an - estimate. we have definitely seen as it is? it's definitely an _ estimate. we have definitely seen a lot of balance sheets and we dig deep to investigate what is out there publicly, talking to people, including the billionaires, and there are definitely people who are on the list who would rather not and they hang up the second we give them a call. but we do everybody a call. chase, thank you very much. what a job! a quick look at some other

stories now. shares of chinese smartphone maker xiaomi surged 15% when the hong kong market opened today. it's the first trading day following the company's launch of its new su7 electric car. xiaomi is pricing the su7 at $4,000 less than tesla's model 3, and claims the new car will have a longer driving range. google has agreed to delete billions of records and submit to some restrictions on its power to track users, as part of a legal settlement. the deal aims to resolve a class action lawsuit brought in the us in 2020 which accused the tech giant of invading people's privacy by collecting user data, even when they were browsing in "private mode". the suit had sought 5 billion dollars in damages. google is supporting the deal, though it disputes the claims.

it's the latest frontier in tourism — the arctic. this winter, finnish lapland has seen bumper visitor numbers. it's bucking the trend across most of the country that has yet to see tourism fully rebound after the pandemic. adrienne murray has been to the edge of the arctic circle to find out more about the growing demand for polar travel. with long, dark nights and sub—zero temperatures, this seems an unlikely holiday destination. yet, here at the arctic circle, it's been a bumper tourist season. as a gateway to finnish lapland, last year, rovaniemi welcomed half a million people to this very spot. we wanted to do an arctic circle or like a northern tour, for a very long time. there's an appeal of coming up here when it's snowing and it's cold. we did our research on social media. they share a lot of| stories about here. we saw a lot of posts from santa claus village and it's, like, very romantic and very pretty.

the covid pandemic hit tourism hard, but since then not only have visitor numbers bounced back, they've been surging. and the negative temperatures certainly aren't holding people back. tourism is yet to rebound elsewhere in finland, but in lapland, it's a different story — hitting new highs last year. 0nce popular with chinese tourists, now most visitors come from europe, particularly the uk, france and germany. and most of them head here to rovaniemi, where a doubling of international flight routes has helped tourism take off, sending visitor arrivals and overnight stays up 30%. this season is a record breaker, for sure. we're going to have this full speed until the beginning of april, so the whole winter season will be a record—breaking level. and social media has had huge pulling power. it has changed the structure for tourism, in my mind, because people seek for the most photogenic places and

the instagrammable moments, and that draws people to travel. jenny is a tenth generation reindeer herder who began offering tours two years ago. here in lapland, tourists come here to see the northern lights. and reindeers are the other thing also, and the culture. i think that everybody have been on the beaches and things like that. so now they wanted to see the arctic life. the northern lights are one of the biggest wintertime drawers. this hotel employs a staff member to watch out for the aurora. i hotel employs a staff member to watch out for the aurora.- watch out for the aurora. i think this kind of _ watch out for the aurora. i think this kind of arctic _ watch out for the aurora. i think this kind of arctic destination . watch out for the aurora. i think this kind of arctic destination is| this kind of arctic destination is trending at the moment. people usually seek something really unique and different. usually seek something really unique and different-— and different. tours have ballooned and different. tours have ballooned and in the local— and different. tours have ballooned and in the local area _ and different. tours have ballooned and in the local area there - and different. tours have ballooned and in the local area there is - and different. tours have ballooned and in the local area there is no - and in the local area there is no more than 100 companies offering

northern lights tours. but you will also need some luck to see them.

hello from the bbc sport centre. england all—rounder ben stokes has asked to not be considered for selection for this summer's t20 world cup to focus on his fitness. stokes says he wants to use the break to ensure he can be "the all—rounder i want to be" across all formats. he had knee surgery over the winter and bowled just five overs during the recent five—test series in india. the 32—year—old has already opted out of the indian premier league, which began last month. in a statement he said — i m working hard and focusing on building my bowling fitness back up to fulfil a full role as an all—rounder in all formats of cricket. 0pting out of the ipl and the world cup will hopefully be a sacrifice that allows me to be the all—rounder i want to be

for the foreseeable future."