The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has reported UK inflation as unchanged in February at 0.3%.
For two years now, annual inflation has been below the Bank of England’s 2% target and last year it was at zero. Last month, the Bank said that this year it expects inflation to stay below 1%.
Other ONS figures that were published around the same time gave an indication that Chancellor George Osborne is on the cusp of missing his target for cutting the country’s budget deficit in the financial year 2015-16.
Also in February, Government borrowing fell less than expected at £7.1bn. This brings the total deficit for the 11 months so far to £70.7bn, which is lower compared to the Chancellor’s full year target of £72.2bn.