0.5% bank rate expected to remain until 2017
According to a Reuters poll The Bank of England (BoE) will leave British interest rates at a record low until early 2017, this is mainly down to stuttering global growth and off target inflation.
The 0.5% bank rate has now not changed over the last 7 years and it is now expected according to the poll of 50 economists reportedly taken in the past few days that the BoE will not act until early 2017.
There was only a median 40 percent chance the Bank will have raised rates by the end of this year, down from the 45 percent in a March 8 poll.
Thomas Bloomfield at 4CAST reportedly said “At this stage, a 2016 rate hike is wishful thinking given the headwinds that currently face the UK economy,”
Any increases are expected be gradual and the initial 25 basis point increase will be followed by matching moves in the second and fourth quarters of next year. none of the 50 economists polled expect any move when the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee makes its latest policy announcement on April 14.