It was 20 years ago today… well, not quite. It is 20 years since the Bank of England published its first quarterly inflation report in 1993. But the difference between the outlook for the British economy then and now is dramatic. Back in the slowdown of the early 1990s, the UK economy suffered a less severe drop in GDP than we have seen over recent years, but it did have to grapple with high inflation (see chart 1). Coming out of that recession, the UK experienced a period of sustained growth and moderate inflation – a prospect that we would now grab with both hands given half the chance.