Bank of England split on rates
Bank of England policymakers were split three ways in August for a second month running, with one voting to hike interest rates, another to cut but the remaining seven deciding to keep borrowing costs steady at 5 percent.
RBS profits up 9 percentMinutes from the August 6-7 meeting showed on Wednesday the Monetary Policy Committee mulled the case for all three options but the majority were happy to leave rates on hold because although inflation rising, the outlook for growth had worsened.
Timothy Besley repeated his call for a quarter-point rise in rates and David Blanchflower sustained his vote for a 25 basis point cut.
The minutes are likely to reinforce expectations that the next move in interest rates will be down, particularly as the MPC noted that upside risks to inflation had eased over the month because of the slide in crude oil prices.
"The fall in oil prices, if sustained, would reduce some of the pressure on utility prices in the near term," the minutes said. "Pay growth had remained subdued. Some measures of inflation expectations had fallen back in July."
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