It's Official - Britain Is in Deflation

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The UK has tipped into deflation - with overall prices for goods and services falling - for first time since records began


Britain has tipped into deflation for the first time in more than half a century.

Prices, as measured by the consumer prices index (CPI), fell by 0.1pc in the year to April, following zero inflation in February and March.

This is the first time Britain has fallen into deflation since official records began in 1996. Modelled data produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggest it is also the lowest rate since 1960. Read on and comment » | Szu Ping Chan | Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Wirtschaftskrise in Europa: Spanien fällt in die Deflation

SPIEGEL ONLINE – WIRTSCHAFT: Es ist eine ökonomisch gefährliche Entwicklung: In Spanien fallen erstmals seit 2009 die Preise. Was für Verbraucher angenehm klingt, ist fatal für die Wirtschaft. Muss die Europäische Zentralbank eingreifen?

Madrid - Spanien ist überraschend in die Deflation geraten. Im März sanken die Verbraucherpreise erstmals seit Oktober 2009 auf Jahressicht, wie aus einer ersten Schätzung der nationalen Statistikbehörde vom Freitag hervorgeht. Die für europäische Vergleichszwecke harmonisierte Teuerungsrate fiel im März auf minus 0,2 Prozent. Im Vormonat hatte die Rate mit plus 0,1 Prozent immerhin noch knapp über der Nulllinie gelegen. » | yes/dpa-AFX | Freitag, 28. März 2014

Gefährlicher Preisverfall: Wie Deflation entsteht »

Swiss Slide into Deflation Signals the Next Chapter of This Global Crisis
THE TELEGRAPH: Watch Switzerland closely. It is tipping into deflation, the first Western country to succumb to Japan's disease.

Swiss consumer prices fell 0.4pc in March (year-on-year). Swiss CPI will be minus 1pc at least by July, nearing the level where spending psychology changes. By the time you have a self-feeding spiral, it is too late.

"This is something that we must prevent at all costs. The current situation is extraordinarily serious," said Philipp Hildebrand, a governor of the Swiss National Bank.

The SNB is not easily spooked. It is the world's benchmark bank, the keeper of the monetary flame. Yet even the SNB's hard men have thrown away the rule book, taking emergency action to force down the exchange rate of the Swiss franc.

Here lies the danger. If other countries try to export deflation by this means, we will face a second phase of the global crisis. Taiwan is already devaluing. Korea, Singapore, and Sweden all seem tempted to follow. Japan is chomping at the bit.

"We don't fully realise in the West what a catastrophic collapse Japan has suffered," says Albert Edwards, global strategist at Société Générale. "The West has dumped a large part of its economic downturn onto Japan by devaluing against the yen."

This is about to go into reverse as Tokyo hits the ping-pong ball back across the net. "As the unfolding collapse in the yen gathers pace, the West will see its green shoots incinerated to dust," he said. >>> By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard | Sunday, April 5, 2009

Deflation Is Fast Approaching
THE TELEGRAPH: Deflation is on its way even sooner than we originally thought - along with all the things that entails: interest rates at or close to zero, growing disquiet about becoming trapped in economic depression, the Bank of England forced to take drastic measures to put money into peoples' pockets.

The producer prices figure released by the Office for National Statistics this morning shine the light on just how virulent the recession is becoming. The cost of manufacturers' raw materials has fallen by 3.3pc in the past month alone, and with oil and commodity prices dropping like a stone it will fall even further in the coming months. >>> Edmund Conway | December 8, 2008

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