Inflation collapse – should central banks raise interest rates or not?

Prices have flatlined and the investment community wants to see a return on their assets. But a rise in interest rates could push costs down, not up

It is a long time since there was any real inflation in the UK economy. Not since the oil price-induced spike in 2011, which sent petrol and gas costs spiralling, have consumers suffered such a sustained attack on their living standards. Since then it has been downhill all the way, reflecting the turmoil in the eurozone and then the slowdown in China, the world's economic engine room.

This year prices have flatlined. And the lack of energising forces in the world economy look like keeping prices flat for some time.