BoE holds rates at 4.5%

The move has been widely expected with few tipping the MPC to lower rates just ahead of Christmas particularly after Chancellor Gordon Brown revised his economic growth forecast for the year in Monday’s pre-Budget report down from his target of between 3% and 3.5% to 1.75%. House prices have only inched up during 2005 and there are concerns regarding the hike in energy prices over the summer, falling consumer spending and the downturn in industrial output. Mehrdad Yousefi, head of intermediary mortgages at Alliance & Leicester, says: "A change in the base rate this month was unlikely, s...