The UK’s six year stint of record-low interest rates does not look set to change in the near future, the BBC has revealed.
The rate, which has been kept at 0.5% by the Bank of England since the financial crisis, will stay there for at least another month.
Back in the summer, many economists hinted that a rate rise would be on the cards in the new year, but it now looks as if this will be postponed until after the general election. With inflation at a 12 year low, helped on its way by Brent crude prices plummeting from $116 to under $50 per barrel, there is little incentive to raise borrowing costs just yet – especially given that the economy has struggled to recover during 2014.
Meanwhile, policymakers at the European Central Bank have begun cutting interest rates to 0.05% and are now expected to start buying government bonds to stimulate the eurozone economy.