BoE Chief Economist: Interest Rates may rise in 2014

The Bank of England warned that interest rates might rise as early as next year as its chief economist said Threadneedle Street’s desire to keep borrowing costs low for several years could be thwarted by a combination of stronger than expected growth and unusually weak productivity.

Spencer Dale, one of the nine members of the rate-setting monetary policy committee, said the UK was currently growing at an annual rate of 3-4% and the Bank could not be certain when it might need to tighten policy.

Following guidance issued by the Bank in August, the City is expecting interest rates to remain on hold at their record low of 0.5% until at least 2015. But Dale said in a Guardian interview that in certain circumstances an increase could happen as soon as 2014.

The Guardian

Content is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.