Consumer prices set to plunge by 4% to 5%

CONSUMER prices are set for their third largest decline in the history of the State this year as food and utility costs ease. Prices are set to plunge by 4% to 5% driven by major falls in mortgage interest costs.

The cost of living plunged in the year to the end of April at the fastest rate since the middle of the Great Depression of the 1930s, according to the CSO.

Prices fell 3.5% in the last year and by 0.8% in April against March. Aside from last month when high-street prices remained steady, the value of consumer goods has been falling every month since October last year.