A BLESSING or a curse?

The jury has not even begun to be assembled on the question of whether the fact Britain has tumbled into negative inflation – deflation – for the first time since the sixties is a boon or a dire warning of tough times to come.

The theory is that if deflation goes on for too long then people stop buying goods to wait for prices to fall even further.

And if we stop buying then companies have to cut jobs.

That scenario however is a long way off yet and the government predicts that we will be in the happy situation of rising prices again in the not too distant future.

That makes this one of the strangest of times.

Certainly the bout of deflation that struck European economies recently lasted just a few months.

The Bank of England is also foretelling of a return to inflation here in the UK in the not too distant future.

We should then, if that is the case, enjoy this downward blip while it lasts and make the most of a cheap summer.