Pressure to cut interest rates remains in place

The UK's inflation rate held close to a record low in February, giving the Bank of England scope to cut interest rates further as economic growth slows. Consumer prices, ranging from food to clothing, rose 1.9% from a year ago, the lowest increase since records began in 1976. After leaving base rates unchanged at 6% since January 2000, the Bank of England announced an interest rate cut of a quarter of a percentage point, to 5.75%, at the end of the Monetary Policy Committee's (MPC) monthly meeting on 8 February. The cut, which was widely expected, followed the Federal Reserve's ...