The Bank of England held interest rates at 5.0 percent on Thursday, but most experts predict a cut next month to shore up the economy in the face of a global credit crunch.

A majority of economists expect the Bank of England to cut interest rates on Thursday after a raft of weak economic signals tipped the balance in favour of lower borrowing costs.

The Bank of England cut interest rates for the third time in five months on Thursday to cushion the economy from the global credit squeeze, despite persistent worries about rising inflation.

Two Bank of England policymakers opposed this month's decision to keep interest rates at 5.25 percent, minutes showed on Wednesday, leading markets to price in a greater chance of another cut as soon as next month.

The Bank of England has released the minutes of the monthly meeting of the rate setting Monetary Policy Committee (MPC). The minutes show that the committee voted to keep interest rates constant in January by 8 to 1.

Two of the Bank of England's nine strong Monetary Policy Committee unexpectedly opposed this month's decision to raise interest rates by a quarter point to 5.0 percent.

Norway's annual inflation rate increased to 2.7 percent in October, driven by rising energy costs.

The Bank of England raised interest rates on Thursday by a quarter point to 5.0 percent, their highest level in 5 years, in order to restrain building inflationary pressures.

The two newest members of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee opposed this month's decision to keep interest rates pegged at 4.75 percent, preferring an immediate quarter point increase.

British consumer prices rose 2.4 percent in September compared with a year earlier, the government reported Tuesday, down slightly from the previous month but still stubbornly above the official inflation target.

Inflation in the 12 nation euro zone sank to 1.7 percent in September from 2.3 percent a month earlier and from 2.6 percent a year earlier, the EU's statistics office announced Tuesday.

The European Central Bank is set to lift its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point at a meeting in Paris, economists say, despite lower euro zone inflation and protests by workers' representatives looking for a pay rise.

The Bank of England kept interest rates steady at 4.75 percent for the second month running on Thursday, but most economists predict a hike next month.

Hardly anyone expects the Bank of England to raise interest rates this week but markets are still on heightened alert after the central bank caught them on the hop with a quarter point hike in August.

The EU's seasonally adjusted jobless rate held steady at 8 percent in August, while in the 12 nation euro zone unemployment edged up to 7.9 percent from 7.8 percent in July, the statistics agency Eurostat reported Tuesday.

Denmark's unemployment rate remained at a record low of 4.4 percent in August, the national statistics agency said Thursday.

Poland's unemployment rate dipped to 15.5 percent in August, down from 15.7 percent a month earlier, according to government figures released Monday.

New car registrations in Europe dropped 1.4 percent in August as rising interest rates and fuel costs deterred some consumers from buying new autos.

Consumer prices rose 0.1 percent from July, Eurostat said. Year on year inflation hit a high for the year at 2.5 percent in May and June, prompting the European Central Bank to raise interest rates several times in recent months.