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Here are analysts' predictions on whether the Bank of England will cut interest rates or not

Will Martin   

Here are analysts' predictions on whether the Bank of England will cut interest rates or not
Finance2 min read

All eyes are on the Bank of England and whether it will cut interest rates or not when its Monetary Policy Committee meets on Wednesday - the first time since the UK voted to leave the European Union at the end of June.

We won't find out the results of that meeting until midday on Thursday, but whatever the outcome, the MPC's decision will be one of the watched releases in many years.

The MPC is the group within the BOE that is responsible for steering monetary policy in the UK by setting interest rates, and inflation targets.

To find out how the markets are feeling about the BoE's decision, Business Insider rounded up forecasts from banks, economic research houses, and trading firms about whether or not the central bank will cut interest rates, changing Britain's base rate for the first time in almost seven years. Most of those surveyed plumped for either a cut to 0.25% or no move at all, although one bank, Morgan Stanley, predicted a cut to just 0.1%.

A survey in the Financial Times on Monday suggested that markets "have already priced in a 75% chance of interest rates being cut from 0.5% to 0.25% this week." Bloomberg surveyed 54 economists, with 30 saying that they see a cut of some kind from the MPC meeting.

Business Insider found that around 40% of the forecasts we looked at suggest that the Bank will leave rates unchanged, although all those who said that no cut will come on Thursday, argued that the BoE will most likely cut on August 4, its next meeting and when its latest Inflation Report is released.

Of those who believe the Bank won't cut, most argue that the MPC's minutes will cite the fact that we have very little economic data from the post-Brexit period, so don't actually know how the vote has actually affected the UK's economy.

Britain's interest rates have been at a historic low of 0.5% since March 2009 and before Britain voted to leave the European Union on June 23, the BoE was priming itself to eventually start raising rates again.

The basic argument behind the BoE cutting rates on Thursday is that it should, in theory at least, stimulate economic growth by encouraging people to borrow and invest, which in turn will help to spur inflation. With several forecasts, including from Credit Suisse and Barclays, suggesting that Britain is plunging towards recession, a rate cut of some sort seems inevitable in the near future.

Check out the forecasts of economists, analysts, and strategists below:

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