'Noflation' exposes limits of quantitative easing globally

CALL it "noflation". Consumer prices everywhere are stubbornly refusing to rise even after central banks have pumped trillions of dollars into the global economy via quantitative easing. Figures published on Tuesday show that annual consumer prices were stagnant in the UK last month, the 20th consecutive report that's missed the Bank of England's 2 per cent target. QE, it seems, isn't the economic panacea it promised to be.

Here's how UK inflation has performed in the past five years: If UK monetary policy makers didn't raise rates in 2011 when the average annual inflation rate was 4.4 per cent, or 2012 when it was 2.9 per cent, or 2013 when it was 2.6 per cent, or 2014 when it was 1.5 per cent, why on earth move in 2015 - when it's been 0.1 per cent? There's a yawning gap between waiting until you see the whites of in…