3
Apr
Base rate hold tipped
The Bank of England's monetary policy committee will hold the base
rate next week, a new poll has predicted.
Adfero's survey of nine economists and representatives of financial
institutions found unanimous agreement that there will be no change
to the current base rate of 0.5 per cent.
Some of those questioned said that it would be technically
difficult to lower interest rates any further and suggested the
emphasis will be on quantitative easing from now on.
Defaqto economist Michael Baxter said: "There have been hints in
the last couple of weeks about inflation not dropping off quite as
rapidly as we expected," arguing that this would weigh against any
more cuts.
However, he did not suggest rates may rise, which could mean that
many of the best mortgage deals currently available will remain
so.
A decision not to change the base rate would end a run of six
successive cuts.
Before the first of these in October 2008, the level was at five
per cent.
