British inflation falls to zero

LONDON: Britain´s annual inflation rate slowed sharply to zero in February for the first time, pulled down by falling prices for recreational goods, food, furniture and oil, official data showed Tuesday.
“The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) was unchanged in the year to February 2015, that is, a 12-month rate of 0.0 percent, down from 0.3 percent in January,” the Office for National Statistics said in a statement.
“The main contributions to the slowdown in the rate came from price movements for a range of recreational goods (particularly data processing equipment, books and games, toys & hobbies), food, and furniture and furnishings.”
Market expectations had been for a CPI rate of 0.1 percent, according to economists polled by Bloomberg. Bank of England (BoE) governor Mark Carney recently warned that inflation could soon turn negative, signalling fresh risks to the economy before a general election on May 7.