Labour Research February 2002

Key economic indicators

Inflation falls to lowest for 32 years

Inflation continued to fall in December, this time to its lowest level since March 1960. The headline rate of 0.7% was 0.2 percentage points lower than November and reflects the cheaper cost of borrowing following a spate of base rate cuts in the last year. The underlying rate, which excludes mortgage interest payments, rose by 0.1 points to 1.9%.