26. Mr. Alan W. WilliamsTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer in how many months since the power to set interest rates was transferred to the Bank of England, Britain's inflation rate has(a) exceeded and (b) fallen below the median range of its inflation target. [112243]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonThe Government's inflation target since May, 1997 has been 2.5 per cent. for RPIX inflation. In the 33 months since operational independence was given to the Bank, inflation has exceeded the target on 16 occasions, has fallen below on 11 occasions and been exactly on target on 6 occasions. RPIX inflation has averaged 2.5 per cent. during this period and has been in the range of 2.1 to 3.2 per cent.