Bank Rate May Rise Sooner Than Thought!

Tuesday, 19. October 2010

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Andrew Sentance may not be a name that you have come across before but he is very important in our lives. He sits on the Monetary Policy Committee in the Bank of England. They sit each month and decide whether base rate should stay the same, at 0.5% or increase. Since the rate dropped to 0.5% every member of the committee has voted to keep it at the same level, that is until the October meeting at which Mr Sentance voted to increase the rate by 25 basis points. Could this be the beginning of a change in attitude of the committee and could we see a rise in the interest rate. It really depends how the spending review is accepted so it will be interesting to see how the committee vote next month. Could this be the end of the longest unchanged bank rate since the second world war? Very fragile times. Do you think bank rate will increase before the end of the year? By Graham Hill