A cut in interest rates is widely expected when the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee meets on Thursday.
The Bank of England is expected to cut interest rates when its Monetary Policy Committee meets on Thursday (December 4th).
A number of leading figures in the business and finance world have predicted that rates will be cut by 0.5 to one percent. The Bank's base rate currently stands at three percent, following a 1.5 percent cut last month.
Rates are cut when the Bank thinks the economy needs stimulation. Lower rates generally mean that consumers have smaller repayments to make on mortgage loans, allowing them more cash to spend in the wider economy and therefore boosting GDP.
The latest official figures from the Bank revealed that there were only 32,000 mortgages approved in October, down by 1,000 from September.
Michael Baxter, an economist at Defaqto, predicted a cut of three quarters of a percent. He felt that last month's cut would have been larger but the Bank did not want to "surprise markets to that extent".
"I no longer think markets will be surprised if they cut interest rates significantly. I think that would be consistent with what the minutes said at from their last meeting," he said, referring to the revelation that a larger cut had been discussed during November's meeting.
