As a result of the fall in crude oil prices of more than 70 percent since summer 2014 until the beginning of this year, the latest figure for the year-on-year rate of change in the consumer price index (CPI, all items less fresh food) is minus 0.5 percent.
Nevertheless, on a basis excluding fresh food and energy, the year-on-year rate of change in the CPI, which had been in the range of around minus 0.5 to minus 1.0 percent before the introduction of QQE, became positive in autumn 2013, and thereafter has remained in positive territory for two years and ten months.