Interest rates - April 2008

aardvaak

jediknightwarrior wrote: »

Disappointing, thought there was a slim chance of 0.5%.

Why on earth would you want that?

minimike2

Well I wanted it as im on a base rate tracker.....

Although I still do not agree that cutting rates is the right thing to do in the current cliamte overall, but individuals such as myself and by the sounds of it JKW will benefit from big reductions...

Gorgeous_George

The Bank of England explain their decision better than me (clicky).

GG

poppy10_2

Gorgeous_George wrote: »

The Bank of England explain their decision better than me (clicky).

GG

CPI inflation rose to 2.5% in February. The Committee expects inflation to rise further this year, reflecting the continuing impact of higher energy and food prices, as well as the recent depreciation of sterling on import costs. Such pressures are already evident in producer input costs and pricing intentions.

Even if commodity prices remain at their current high levels, inflation should fall back. But to ensure that inflation meets the 2% target in the medium term, the Committee needs to balance two risks.

On the upside, above-target inflation this year could raise inflation expectations so that, in the absence of some margin of spare capacity, inflation would remain above the target. On the downside, the disruption in financial markets could lead to a slowdown in the economy that was sufficiently sharp to pull inflation below the target.

In the Committee’s judgement, the balance of these risks to the inflation outlook in the medium term justifies a cut in Bank Rate this month. Credit conditions have tightened and the availability of credit appears to be worsening.

While the recent depreciation in sterling will support net exports, the prospects for output growth abroad have deteriorated. In the United Kingdom, business surveys suggest that growth has begun to moderate and that a margin of spare capacity will emerge during this year. This should help to keep domestic inflationary pressures in check in the medium term.

Against that background, the Committee judged that a reduction in Bank Rate of 0.25 percentage points to 5.0% was necessary to meet the 2% target for CPI inflation in the medium term.

Gorgeous_George

...and poppy gets the 'copy and paste' award for April.



GG

Gorgeous_George

Well, yet again, most of the MSEers who bothered to vote were right. I confess that I expected a larger cut and voted for 0.75%.

I assume that the Bank of England do not realise how serious the credit crunch is or maybe they, like me, believe that cutting rates to 0% wouldn't help. At least they couldn't be accused of not trying if they'd cut more sharply.

Today's cut was expected months ago and with the recent dip in house prices, I expected more.

GG