Further rate cuts likely in England - economists
Güncelleme Tarihi:
The Bank of England cut interest rates by half a percentage point on Wednesday in an emergency move in conjunction with other major central banks to ease the pain of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
The unscheduled cut to 4.5 percent was the biggest in seven years and only the second time the BoE has moved interest rates outside of its regular monthly cycle since the central bank was made independent in 1997.
Economists said further rate cuts were likely as the economy had already ground to a halt even before the year-old credit crisis tightened its grip in the last month.
"We expect the Bank of England to cut interest rates by a further 25 basis points in both November and December, taking them down to 4 percent by the end of this year," said Howard Archer, economist at Global Insight.
"Furthermore, we would not rule out deeper cuts if there is no easing in the financial sector problems. We also expect interest rates to come down to 3 percent in 2009."