Interest rate: It's 4% again

12 April 2012

INTEREST rates were left unchanged today when the Bank of England's monetary policy committee announced the results of its monthly meeting. This is the fourth consecutive month that rates have remained steady at 4%.

While UK economic growth ground to a halt in the fourth quarter, increasing signs the beleaguered manufacturing sector is emerging from recession, combined with still robust consumer demand effectively killed off any lingering hopes of another rate cut in the current cycle.

Earlier today, a housing market survey from Halifax showed house prices jumped 1.5% in February from January to stand 16.9% higher than a year earlier.

The freeze will disappoint the TUC, which had urged the nine-member committee to cut rates again from their present 38-year low.

Many economists believe rates have bottomed out and will begin moving up later in the year, even if inflation remains below the MPC's Government-set target of 2.5%.

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