EXPERT COMMENTARY: Deflation - Professor Diane Coyle

Professor Coyle, Professor of Economics at Manchester, responds to news that the UK Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation turned negative for the first time in over 50 years

The Office for National Statistics has today confirmed that the UK Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation turned negative, in April, for the first time since 1960.

Professor Diane Coyle, Professor of Economics at The University of Manchester, is available for interview on deflation, whether we are experiencing it and what it means for the UK.

Professor Coyle said: "It is much too early to see a small decline in the Consumer Price Index as a worrying sign of deflation. Other economic indicators don't show any sign of this occurring.

"The time to get worried about deflation is if prices fall month after month to the point that people start to postpone purchases because they expect to pay less in future, so the economy as a whole slows down.

"The published figures for inflation are largely showing the effect of the decline in oil prices passing through to energy and transport costs. Other measures - such as the Retail Prices Index and the prices charged for goods as they leave the factory - are increasing year on year."

Professor Coyle is a leading UK economist, former vice-chair of the BBC Trust and former Economics Editor at The Independent. She joined the University of Manchester in September 2014.

Notes for editors

Interview requests to:

Deborah Linton
Media Relations Officer
Faculty of Humanities
The University of Manchester
Tel: 0161 275 8257, 07789 948783
Email: deborah.linton@manchester.ac.uk