49% of Britons think interest rates will go up
05/09/2014
Nearly half of Britons think that the Bank of England (BOE)will raise the interest rates over the next 12 months.
The Bank of England Inflation Attitudes Survey for August, released Friday, has shown that 49% of people think interest rates will rise from the current record low rate, the highest number of people in 3 years. This would affect mortgage, credit card and loan rates for everyday consumers.
Even though almost half of people expect rates to rise, 43% of people believe they will only rise by a small amount in the coming year, which shows people still have faith in the BOE’s promise of rising rates slowly.
A fifth of people surveyed believed rising interest rates would benefit the economy, and more than a third said rates should stay where they are. City economists have predicted that the first rate rises will be in early 2015.
There still remains concern for the economy over the slow rate of wage growth, and the slowing down of the housing market recovery.
Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at IHS Global Insight, said: “We had been expecting an interest rate hike from 0.5 per cent to 0.75 per cent in December, but we are increasingly leaning towards the view that the Bank of England will hold off a little longer and will act early in 2015, most likely in February.
We suspect that low inflation, current very weak earnings growth, and the increased downside risks to economic activity will cause the Bank of England to be cautious”.
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