Only one MPC member voted for cut in interest rate

Eight members, including the governor Mervyn King, and the two deputy governors Rachel Lomax, and Andrew Large, all voted in favour of maintaining the base rate at 4.5%. Arguments used to justify the decision included that the recent weakness in manufacturing perhaps posed a “near-term downside risk to the central projection for GDP”. The minutes revealed that “some members remained of the view that the risks to the central projection for GDP were weighted somewhat to the downside in the second half of the forecast period, reflecting doubts about the profiles for investment and net trad...