Economists polled by Reuters had expected the Bank of England to vote unanimously to keep Bank Rate at 0.75%, however two officials unexpectedly voted to lower interest rates
LONDON - Two Bank of England officials unexpectedly voted to lower interest rates on Thursday to ward off an economic slowdown, and others including Governor Mark Carney said they would consider a cut if global and Brexit headwinds do not ease.
Carney said the BoE’s central scenario was that a slowdown in global growth would stabilize and that Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal — which parliament has yet to approve — pointed the way to a reduction in Brexit uncertainty. For Monetary Policy Committee members Michael Saunders and Jonathan Haskel, it was already time to act — they cast the first votes for a rate cut since shortly after the 2016 Brexit referendum.
The two main political parties are promising to end years of austerity and spend billions on infrastructure — aided by record-low interest rates — to try to fuel growth. But economists at HSBC said a rate cut was not a certainty, as some policymakers looked concerned about rising labor costs. FILE PHOTO: A bird flies past The Bank of England in the City of London, Britain, December 12, 2017. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne
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