November 2006
Rates Hike "Will Cut 2oo7 Growth"
This week's expected UK interest rates rise - along with a slowdown in the US economy - will cut economic growth in the UK to 2.3% in 2007, a report warns.

Oxford Economic Forecasting (OEF) said that its downbeat prediction was based on anticipated weaker demand for exports and more reluctance to spend. Almost all analysts say that a rates hike to 5% is inevitable when the Bank of England meets on Thursday. The move would be part of an effort to reduce inflation.

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October 2006
Property Boom Builds on a Swamp of Debt
Credit is out of control - which is why the base rate will be raised soon.

Here are some snippets of news from last week. Abbey says it will offer mortgages of up to five times single or dual income. A survey shows that repayments on home loans now consume more than half the weekly budget of the average family. One of Britain's leading economists says there is a 36% chance that house prices will fall by 2010. The governor of the Bank of England says he finds the current level of house prices hard to explain. A record number of people are going bust.

September 2006
The Bank of England Confirms that Interest Rates remain the Same
The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee today voted to maintain the official Bank rate paid on commercial bank reserves at 4.75%.

September 2006
The Interest Rate Holds Again
The Bank of England is expected by analysts to keep its main rate unchanged at 4.75% after last month’s surprise quarter-point rise when the Monetary Policy Committee makes its monthly interest rate announcement later this week. However, most believe the MPC will raise rates by another quarter point in November and Thursday’s house price data will reinforce this view.

03 August 2006
The Bank of England Raises Bank Rate by 0.25percentage points to 4.75%
The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee today voted to raise the official Bank rate paid on commercial bank reserves by 0.25 percentage points to 4.75%.

The pace of economic activity has quickened in the past few months. Household spending appears to have recovered from its post-Christmas dip. Business investment growth and investment intentions have also picked up. In the United Kingdom 's main export markets growth has remained robust. As a result, over the past few quarters GDP growth has been at, or a little above, its long-run average and business surveys point to continued firm growth. The margin of spare capacity in the economy appears small.

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July 2006
The Bank of England Continues to Hold
The Bank of England is continuing to hold interest rates at 4.5%.

June 2006
The Bank of England Sticks
Most economists predict the Bank of England will refrain from raising UK interest rates this year – believing financial markets are too hawkish in pricing in an increase in 2006.

A poll published yesterday by news agency Reuters, which was conducted between Wednesday and Friday last week, showed that 21 of 33 economists forecast UK base rates would be on hold at 4.5% for the rest of this year. Eleven forecast a quarter-point rise, and one a cut.

May 2006
Unchanged for Nine Months
As expected by leading analysts the Bank of England has kept UK interest rates at 4.5 per cent, representing nine months in a row of unchanged rates.

Some economists are warning of a possible rise in interest rates later this year, due to resurgence in the property market and signs of recovery in the manufacturing sector. However the biggest potential threat to steady rates may come from Oil prices.

Leading industry figures have warned that a sudden rise in rates could stifle recovery.

February 2006
Bank of England Holds
The Bank of England left its main interest rate unchanged at 4.5 per cent on Thursday, for the sixth consecutive month - an outcome analysts and investors in financial markets had expected.

The economic news since the last meeting has been mixed and if anything, on the stronger rather than weaker side. Official statistics showed that economic growth in the fourth quarter of last year picked up to 0.6% - the highest in a year.

The housing market remained resilient after a rise in mortgage approvals and a pick-up in prices.

February 2006
Pegged Again
Amid widespread predictions that the Bank’s MPC will peg rates again when it announces its decision at noon, eight of the nine members of the Times panel backed that verdict in their latest recommendations.

Expectations that rates will remain unchanged today were unaffected by official data yesterday, which again emphasised the bleak fortunes of British industry.

January 2006
MPC expected to stay hand as City dealings revive
Signs of a resurgence in the financial services sector have strengthened expectations that the Bank of England will keep interest rates unchanged at 4.5% this week.

The unanimous view of economists polled by Reuters is that the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will keep rates at their present level when it concludes its monthly two-day meeting on Thursday, although most expect the MPC to cut rates eventually.

January 2006
'Don't blame me, it's your fault'
Gordon Brown hit back at the Bank of England’s Governor over his recent assertion that much of the blame for this year’s consumer-driven downturn in the economy was because of a rising tax burden.

The Chancellor insisted to MPs yesterday that far from higher tax bills being behind the consumer slowdown, the driving force must have come from the Bank’s own increases in interest rates in the past year.