Last month's figures for The Consumer Prices Index showed it had fallen to its lowest level on record and this has remained the same for March.

The month previous, January 2015, had been the record low before it fell to 0%, with inflation having dropped to 0.3%.

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The ONS stated on its website this morning: "The CPI 12-month rate (the amount prices change over a year) between March 2014 and March 2015 stood at 0.0%. This is the joint lowest 12-month rate on record alongside the rate in February 2015.

"Over the last 5 years, the 3 main contributors to the 12-month inflation rate have been: transport (including motor fuels); housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels; and restaurants and hotels. Combined, these 3 sectors have, on average, accounted for around half of the 12-month inflation rate."

Moneyfacts reported that today all 874 savings accounts on the market beat inflation, and out of these 681 (149 no notice, 79 notice, 243 fixed rate bonds and 210 ISAs) are without restrictive criteria.

According to Moneyfacts, the effect of inflation on savings means that £10,000 invested five years ago, allowing for average interest and tax at 20%, would have the spending power of just £8,813 today – a fall of 11.87%.

Rachel Springall, finance expert at Moneyfacts.co.uk, said: "With inflation at its current level there will be no desire for the Bank of England to raise interest rates any time soon, so it is likely that savers will need to wait it out for at least another year.

"The low rate of inflation means that it is the everyday consumer who will find their cash going further than before, which will make a big difference to those who carefully budget their day-to-day spending.

"Savings rates, on the other hand, are still at appalling lows, and with many people's money languishing in poor accounts it's never been more important to shop around for a better deal.

"A staggering 146 savings accounts on the market pay 0.5% or less, but consumers can easily get over twice this amount on a best buy easy access account."