In two weeks, the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee will vote on whether to raise the base rate, which is now at 5.25%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Economists are divided on whether another hike is likely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And Mr Bailey said he couldn’t predict how the MPC would vote right now. However, he told MPs that it was no longer “clear” that interest rates needed to rise further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“There was a period when it seemed clear to me that rates needed to rise going forward,” he told the Treasury Select Committee. And the question for us was how much and how quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut we\u2019re not I think in that place any more. And that\u2019s why we shifted our language to being much more \u00adevidence and data-driven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think we are much nearer now to the top of the cycle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI am not therefore saying we are at the top of the cycle because we still have a meeting to come. But I think we are much nearer to it, on interest rates, based on the current evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Inflation \u2013 the rate at which prices rise \u2013 fell to 6.8% in July, down from 7.9% in June. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said halving inflation from January\u2019s 10.7% is his \u201cnumber one priority\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr Bailey said: \u201cWe\u2019re currently around 0.1 percentage points from where we were expecting to be in the May forecast. So…our short-term forecast is performing better.\u201d He added there were signals \u201cthe fall in inflation will continue\u201d and will be \u201cquite marked\u201d by the end of 2023.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In two weeks, the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee will vote on whether to raise the base rate, which is now at 5.25%. Economists are divided on whether another hike is … <\/p>\n