Zero inflation as prices remain stagnant

The other two months had changes which cancelled each other out, with the April fall in CPI of 0.1% matched by a rise of the same amount in May.

Falls in clothing and food prices were the main contributors to the change in the rate along with smaller rises in air fares than a year ago.

The Office for National Statistics said: “Historically, price movements for food and motor fuels have been among the main causes of inflation. However these two groups, along with audio-visual and related equipment, have had the largest downward pull on inflation in each month of 2015.”

Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit, said: “Inflation continues to run at its lowest for half a century, but all eyes turn to tomorrow’s wage data to see if longer term underlying price pressures are building, which could prompt a policy response later in the year.

“Core inflation (excluding energy, food, alcohol and tobacco) also fell, down back to 0.8% from 0.9% in May, its joint-lowest since 2001. Oil prices fell during the month, supermarkets continued to compete aggressively on price and June saw the start of summer clothing sales.

“The data therefore raise questions over the whether underlying price pressures are really picking up to the extent than the Bank of England is anticipating. The Bank expects inflation to start rising in earnest later this year, primarily due to the impact of low oil prices phasing out of the annual comparisons, and reaching its 2.0% target by 2017.”