Bank of England cuts rates to 4.5%, predicts weaker growth for 2025
The Bank of England (BoE) slashed interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point on Thursday amid sluggish growth while revising sharply its inflation forecasts for this year upward and halving estimates for growth.
Two officials called for a bigger rate cut against a backdrop of weaker growth. The cut to 4.5% was in line with economists' expectations in a Reuters poll, but the two dissenting votes from external members Catherine Mann and Swati Dhingra in favor of a bigger rate cut to 4.25% were not. Mann, until now, had generally opposed rate cuts, though she had previously said that a switch to more active policy loosening would be needed at some point.
