No treats for borrowers – but rate cut might be coming soonpublished at 12:25 GMT
12:25 GMT
Dharshini David
Deputy economics editor
There were no treats for borrowers from the Bank of England today – but it dangled the possibility of more soon.
However, there may not be many more left in the tin.
The Bank’s job is to get inflation to its 2% target – and keep it there.
It expects it to fall to that level soon and remain at or a bit below it over the next couple of years, and it is forecasting subdued economic growth and a weak jobs market.
So the Bank admits rates are “likely to be reduced further” – it’s a case of when, not if.
But it has to balance that against lingering price pressures in areas such as services, including hotel stays.
It says the judgement about rates cuts “will become a closer call”.
The implication is that rates are close to the bottom – economists predict between one and three cuts more.
But they’ll remain considerably above what they were say, five years ago, in the depths of the pandemic lockdown era.