Thursday, Sep 09, 2010
Base rate held for 18th consecutive month
BBC: UK interest rates remain at record low of 0.5%
The Bank of England has kept UK interest rates on hold at a record low of 0.5% for the 18th consecutive month. The Monetary Policy Committee's (MPC) decision had been expected, but calls have been growing for an increase in rates to curb inflation. CPI inflation was 3.1% in July, above the Bank of England's 2% target rate.
Posted by jack c @ 12:06 PM (2172 views) Add Comment
16 Comments
- If you do not have an admin password leave the password field blank.
- If you would like to request a password allowing you to add comments and blog news articles without needing each one approved manually, send an e-mail to the webmaster.
- Your email address is required so we can verify that the comment is genuine. It will not be posted anywhere on the site, will be stored confidentially by us and never given out to any third party.
- Please note that any viewpoints published here as comments are user's views and not the views of HousePriceCrash.co.uk.
- Please adhere to the Guidelines
1. sibley's b'stard child said...
Move along, nothing to see here.
2. mark said...
I think the BOE are cornering themselves by not raising them, soon they will look totally inept
3. hpwatcher said...
Same as all the way through the last 13 years, these fools are too scared to do anything.
4. jack c said...
mark - they have been stuck in a corner for months now with no option to cut further and unable to raise rates due to anaemia of the UK economy. The decision making process must take about 2 minutes and for many all credibility was lost long ago.
5. Pyracantha said...
"Since sustaining the recovery must remain the priority, it is absolutely vital that the MPC maintains the current low level of interest rates until the middle of 2011 at the earliest." Errm - what recovery?
6. Guy M said...
The recovery of house prices of course, the start of which just happened to coincide with the dropping of the interest rate to 0.5% in the first place.
7. alan said...
@ jack c, fair comment.
If they are waiting for manufacturers to start recruiting again, they will have a long wait.
8. cyril said...
Member of the MPC is surely one of the highest paid non-jobs.
9. sibley's b'stard child said...
"The Bank of England has held fire for another month, but we think the quantitative easing gun is about to be reloaded and the order to shoot given," said IoD chief economist Graeme Leach.
10. mark said...
now back to the real world and more important news
A former bodyguard for pop star Britney Spears has filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against her.
Fernando Flores has accused the singer of repeatedly parading around in the nude and having sex in front of him.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11241877
11. sibley's b'stard child said...
Britney for the MPC; in fact get the bodyguard in as well. So long as they stick to the pre-prepared script, they'll be fine.
12. mark said...
at least she could say each month "oops i did it again" when she keeps interest rates at same level
13. mark wadsworth said...
That bodyguard is lucky that Britney Spears didn't stick "free sex show" down on his P11D as a taxable benefit in kind :-)
@ SBC, I am amazed that Graeme Leach believes that QE is anything more than paper-shuffling of the highest ordure.
It's government deficits that matter (that's real money printing; those are real new debts that real taxpayers will have to pay off in the very real future), not bits of paper with numbers on them being swapped between different branches of HM Treasury (with the commercial banks taking a very small cut each time).
14. sibley's b'stard child said...
True MW, there was an interesting article this morning in the Guardian w/r to trade deficits:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/sep/09/uk-trade-deficit-hits-new-record
"Britain's coalition government clocked up a record trade deficit in its first three months in office, according to official figures released today.
Data from the Office for National Statistics underlined the size of the challenge facing ministers as they seek to shift the focus of economic growth away from consumer and public spending and towards exports".
15. peeping tom said...
Even if the base rate were gradually raised, how could the banks and building societies afford to raise savings rates given the huge losses they will be incurring on auctioning off repossessed properties? And is raising the base rate really going to encourage overseas investors to buy the not-very-sterling currency of an, at best, stagnant economy? PS I am not advocating the base rate being kept low, I just can't see that raising it is going to make things any better for savers?
16. peeping tom said...
Sorry too many question marks, the last sentence of the previous post was not a question.