Members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted unanimously to maintain the UK base interest rate at 4.5% earlier this month.
Minutes published by the Bank of England show that the nine committee members , including Bank governor Mervyn King, see significant inflationary risk from the ongoing price of oil. In dollar terms the price increased by 5% since the previous meeting of the Committee, the minutes note, leaving oil at twice the price of a year ago. Although there is a downside risk to the economy of weak consumption and business investment both here and in the eurozone, this is offset by the continued strong performance of the stockmarket, while inflationary developments through August were seen to be ...
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