Budget: Inflation to fall to 1.9% by year end

Chancellor George Osborne said UK inflation will come down significantly by the end of the year.

Delivering his Budget for 2012, Osborne said inflation will fall to 1.9% by the end of 2012. CPI annual inflation was 3.4% in February, down from 3.6% in January, according to the Office for National Statistics, while RPI was 3.7%, down from 3.9% the previous month. Unemployment will peak this year at 8.7%, from today's level of 8.4%, the Chancellor added. Meanwhile, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has revised up its forecast for UK economic growth for 2012 but has cut it for 2013, and said the economy will escape recession. It predicts the economy will expand by 0.8%, a...