BoE to hold rates until Q2 next year, say economists

A cooling global economy and an impending austerity squeeze in Britain will make the Bank of England (BoE) wait well into next year before hiking interest rates, a poll of 60 economists suggests.

They expect the BoE to hike its base rate by the end of the second quarter of 2011, starting with a 25 basis point rise from its present record low of 0.5%, according to the  Reuters poll. For the first time this year, no economist thought the Bank would raise rates before the end of 2010, something considered a foregone conclusion in polls conducted this time last year. Increased austerity measures and a growing chance European economies will follow the U.S. economy in slowing down are overriding concerns about above-target inflation, the poll suggests. The full extent of the Gove...