Interest rates - Official Bank Rate
| Bank rate | 0.75% |
| Quantative easing | The committee voted unimously to maintain the stock of sterling non-financial investment-grade corporate bond purchases, financed by the issuance of central bank reserves, at £10 billion. The committee also voted unanimously to maintain the stock of UK governmemnt bond purchases at £435bn. |
| Last decision | 18 December 2019. Voting was 7-2. |
| Next decision | January 2020 |
| Last moved | 2018 (+0.25%) |
Overview of minutes: See MPC Minutes on the Bank of England Website here
More information: For further general information go to the official Bank of England website at www.bankofengland.co.uk
UK Inflation
| CPI inflation | 2.6% in year to July 2018 (CPIH was 2.3%) |
| Government CPI target | 2.0% |
| Upward factors | Housing & household 0.55%, transport 0.71%, Recreation 0.38%, Restaurants and hotels (0.24%) |
| Downward factors | Miscellaneous goods and services (0.08%). |
| Scottish house Price inflation | 4.8% (12 months to June 2018) |
| UK house price inflation | 3.0% (12 months to June 2018) |
For more UK inflation information go to the ONS website here.
GDP
| Q1 2017 | 0.6% (Q2 2018) |
| Upward pressure | GDP growth was driven by services with a strong retail trasde and wholesale growth and growth in construction. Construction grew to a record high. |
| Downward pressure | Despite a large contribution from mining and quarrying, production slowed to 0.1% in July 2018. |
| Q2 2017 GDP | 0.2% |
| Note | Due. |
Retail Sales
| Retail sales | 0.7% increase when compared with the previous month, recovering from a decrease of 0.5% in Hune 2018. |
| Online sales | Online sales increased in July 2018 year on year by 16.9% and 4.9% on the month. Spending online continued to increase to reach a new record proportion of all retailing at 18.2%; with strong growth in department stores also reaching a record proportion at 18.2%. |
| . |
