Inflation has tumbled to its lowest level on record as sliding food and petrol prices plus subdued utility bills helped provide what was described as a “giant tax cut for the economy”.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) measure of inflation fell to 0.5% in December, equal to the rate in May 2000 which has not been lower since CPI records began in 1989, official figures showed.
Economists said that the continued plunge in the oil price meant it was likely to fall further and that brief period of negative inflation was “not entirely out of the question”.
More than half of the £120billion due to be invested in the Norwegian North Sea in the next decade will be spent boosting oil recovery from existing fields, according to new analysis prepared for ONS 2014.
