The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee today voted to maintain the Bank's repo rate at 4.5%.
Today's decision came as no surprise. Only one of 18 forecasters polled by AFX News predicted that the nine-member panel would raise the cost of borrowing another quarter point for the third month running and take the repo rate up to 4.75 pct
The central bank has raised interest rates on four occasions since November, each time by a quarter point
Last month's increase, which marked the first back-to-back hikes for over four years, had raised concerns that the MPC had abandoned its "gradualist" approach to raising borrowing costs in the wake of sustained consumer strength
Analysts expect the repo rate to rise to 5.00 pct by the end of the year, down from earlier predictions of 5.25 pct, with the next increase expected to take place in August, alongside the BoE's next quarterly economic forecasts
Since the last MPC meeting, there have been signs that rampant consumer demand is starting to slow down in the wake of higher borrowing costs and house price gains are starting to moderate
The continued strength in consumer demand prompted the BoE's governor Mervyn King to issue homeowners with a sharp warning that house prices may fall
The minutes of the meeting will be published at 9.30am on Wednesday 21 July.
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