Bank of England ‘to wait’ on rate cut decision

In normal circumstances, the Bank of England might be close to pumping more stimulus into Britain’s economy, given recent signs of a sharp slowdown in growth and a rise in the number of people out of work.

However, governor Mark Carney and his fellow rate-setters are all expected to take a wait-and-see approach this week, effectively dismissing most of the slowdown as due to temporary jitters before the UK’s historic EU referendum on June 23.

A Reuters poll of economists predicted that the nine members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will maintain their united front and vote unanimously to keep borrowing costs on hold at their record-low 0.5%.