4 October 2007
The Bank of England (BoE) is widely expected to keep interest rates at their current level as it holds its monthly Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting later today.
Many analysts believe interest rates will be kept on hold at their current level of 5.75% to allow for the dust to settle on the recent global credit crunch.
In September, all nine members of the MPC voted unanimously to keep rates on hold for the third consecutive month, following five increases since August 2006.
Some economists are calling for the BoE to cut interest rates in the coming months in order to counter a predicted economic slowdown next year.
"The Bank of England may well feel under pressure to take early action to support economic activity, given the recent criticism that it has faced over its response to the credit crunch and the Northern Rock crisis," said Global Insight chief economist Howard Archer.
"However, we believe the Bank of England will be impervious to outside pressure and will orientate its actions to keeping consumer price inflation to two per cent on a two-year horizon," he added
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