Inflation falls to three year low

UK inflation fell to 2.4% in June, the lowest it’s been since 2009, according to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The recent announcement from ONS shows Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation down to 2.4% in June from 2.8% in May, the third successive monthly fall.

Retail Price Index (RPI) inflation also fell to 2.8% in June from 3.1% in May.

Commenting on the data, Iwan Griffiths, North West Regional Chairman at PwC, said:

"Falls in the price of clothing, fuel and food – particularly meat - are the main contributing factors, suggesting that the summer sales kicked off early and that the unseasonable weather may have seriously curtailed the demand for barbecues.

“All this suggests that inflation is heading steadily towards the target rate of 2%, as predicted last week in our latest PwC UK Economic Outlook.

"However, threats to the UK and particularly UK regional economies from the continuing eurozone crisis remain and we should not discount the possibility that global oil prices could rise again.

“Nonetheless, the steady fall in inflation is good news and we should take this as an indicator that some of the pressures on the region’s households are reducing for the present at least.”