The Bank of England’s quarterly inflation report this week could be the first to predict a period of deflation, given the sharp fall in the oil price since the previous report and the central bank’s assessment in January that the chances of outright deflation were even.
Simon Wells, HSBC’s chief UK economist, reckons this week’s report could be the BoE’s “first deflation report,” while Vicky Redwood at Capital Economics says the projections for inflation could “graze the zero line.”
