A letter from the Bank of England Governor to the Chancellor

The Governor of the Bank of England is expected to write an open letter to the Chancellor explaining why inflation is more than one percentage point off its target of 2%.

Here is that letter as imagined by ITV News' Economics Editor Richard Edgar:

Dear George,

Well, this is a little embarrassing.

Inflation has dropped today to only 0.5%. That's more than a percentage point away from the target you set me of 2.0% so, as you know, I have to write a letter explaining myself.

As a superstar central banker I find this a bit humiliating, but rules are rules (as I keep telling bankers).

Actually, it's not really my fault. Oil prices have more than halved on international markets over the past six months and that has fed through to much cheaper petrol prices (they're down 10.5% compared with December 2013).

Energy bills have been frozen in recent months, compared with last year's rises, so that's played a part.The supermarket price wars mean food bills are coming down - ­almost 2% lower, in fact.

I've done my bit to get people spending by keeping interest rates where they are, what more can I do?

Where do we go from here? Oil prices show no sign of firming up ­- they hita new multi-year low earlier today.

Energy bills may fall further -­ Eon announced it is to cut prices by 3.5%. And the supermarket price wars look set to continue. George, have you been to Morrisons lately?

Their prices are much lower than I remember them but the battle with itsrivals has claimed the first casualty as Morrisons' boss was sacked afterhis efforts failed to win back customers.

Please don't make a fuss. I think inflation should start to pick up laterthis year (and it hardly does you any harm just ahead of the election,does it?).

Yours ever,Mark