Labour Research May 2001

News

Cheaper mortgages depress RPI

Lower mortgage interest rates helped push down the headline rate of inflation to a 13-month low of 2.3% in March. Lower petrol prices as a result of the fuel duty cuts in the March Budget also contributed to the fall.

The underlying inflation rate, which excludes mortgage payments and is used by the Bank Of England when setting interest rates, remains unchanged at 1.9%.