There's a double dose of good news for the economy today, with the latest government figures showing promising signs.

Unemployment has fallen slightly for the third month in a row, to 2.1%.

But the real story is inflation, which has fallen to a negative level for the first time in living memory.

Treasury Minister Allan Bell says the Retail Prices Index stands at -0.2%.

He told Manx Radio:

"It's a reflection, I think, of the continuing fall in interest rates in particular, and their ongoing impact on mortgage rates.

"But it's also is a reflection overall that prices are now stabalising from the position they were in a few months ago, and we are now going through a period of prolonged price stability, as far as inflation is concerned, which ought to carry on at least for several more months, before we start to see inflation coming back again."