Interest rates... up or down?

In recent times, there has been a relative predictability about the general direction of interest rates, which has meant that the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee has not faced too many troubling decisions. However, there are now two significantly contrasting issues that face the policy-makers in future meetings in the short-term, namely slowing economic growth and rising inflation. It has very recently been reported by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research that UK growth fell to a three year low for the quarter ending May, a further indication of the negative ...