UK consumer price index declines unexpectedly in September

Britain slipped into deflation territory in September, figures released on Tuesday showed.

According to the Office for National Statistics, the consumer price index (CPI) declined 0.1% month-on-month compared with a 0.2% growth in August and analysts’ expectations for a flat reading.

On a year-on-year basis, the index slid 0.10% after falling flat in the previous month and compared with expectations for an unchanged reading.

“Though CPI has turned very slightly negative this month, the bigger picture is of a broadly flat inflation rate since the beginning of the year," said the ONS head of CPI, Richard Campbell.

“The main downward pressures on CPI came from clothing, which rose more slowly this September than in recent years, and falling petrol and diesel prices.”