Inflation falling

Consumer inflation falling

This will be good news for consumers in the midst of all the job cuts we're seeing at the moment :

Official figures show that UK inflation fell in October from a 16-year high, as oil and transport costs - as well as food prices - fell.

The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) measure dropped to 4.5% from 5.2% in September.

The Office for National Statistics says the month-on-month fall in the CPI figure is the biggest drop in 16 years.

The Retail Prices Index, (RPI) the alternative measure of inflation, which includes housing costs, fell from 5% to 4.2%, the biggest fall since 2003.

The RPI measure is sometimes referred to as the "headline" rate of inflation, and is often used for agreeing pay settlements, or calculating the uprating of benefits such as pensions.

When you add to this the cut in interest rates it's welcome relief (as long as they reduction gets passed onto mortgage holders).

Article ref:HSL05200520