UK interest rates left unchanged

Thursday, October 4, 2007

The Bank of England left interest rates unchanged today at 5.75% today amid growing speculation that a weaker housing market and continuing turmoil in credit markets will soon force it to ease policy.

The decision marked the third meeting in a row that the monetary policy committee has left rates on hold, having raised them five times since August last year in a bid to cool an overheating economy.

But with Halifax reporting earlier today that house prices suffered their first fall this year in September, there is a growing feeling in the City that a slowdown in the economy is already underway, one that can only be exacerbated by the credit market crisis which sparked the run on Northern Rock.