A Reuters poll has shown that economists overwhelmingly expect the Bank of England to cut interest rates despite fears of inflation in order to stop the current economic slowdown turning into a recession.
The poll of 60 economists predicted a 25 basis point cut next week to 5.25 percent, similar to the cut in December.
The economists asked estimated a 70 per cent chance that a rate cut will come when the Bank of England meets on February 7, and 90 per cent chance that it would happen before March.
"We would expect a series of rate cuts to be necessary this year to head off the prospect of the expected slowdown turning into a recession," said John Hawksworth, head of macroeconomics at PricewaterhouseCoopers.
"However, we would expect the MPC to proceed cautiously down this path," he added.
Experts are predicting that the bank rate will fall to 5.0 percent by June, then further dropping to 4.75 percent by September from there they expect it to go up again.
The Bank hopes that a rate cut will increase the lending of unsecured and secured loans, and ease the burden on borrowers struggling to repay debt.
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