Members of the Monetary Policy Committee voted unanimously for the 0.25% hike in interest rates to 4.5% earlier this month, minutes from the Bank of England show.
That the increase in rates could have been higher is a key issue addressed by the document. However, the Committee agreed that a 50 points increase would have been unexpected by the market, and caused more concern than helped the inflation picture. Shifting rates up by 25 points was favoured in light of global economic recovery and rising UK household debt. Maintaining a policy of increasing rates "might encourage a more prudent approach towards incurring higher levels of prospective debt servicing, so helping to containthe vulnerability of demand to subsequent shocks." At least...
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