He expects a second round of price declines: a further 20% fall would bring prices back to their long-run average against earnings.

But its stratospheric price, and the fact that most economists think that inflation will fall back as the global economy slows, argue against it.

In August the bank's monetary-policy committee (MPC) forecast that consumer-price inflation would fall back to its official 2% target, but only after a period of economic weakness had drawn its sting.