Savings accounts provider Santander highlights base rate issues

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Savings accounts provider Santander highlights base rate issues

Fri 8th Oct 2010

An expert from Santander has highlighted some of the issues surrounding the level of the base rate.

Barry Naisbitt, chief economist at the organisation, made his comments after the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) opted to keep the base rate at 0.5 per cent for another month.

He described how the decision does not come as a surprise, adding: "When they are published, the minutes of the meeting could, however, be rather more interesting than the headline decision."

Mr Naisbitt pointed out that a member of the MPC recently gave a speech suggesting that more quantitative easing may be needed in the future, which he described as effectively being the opposite to raising the base rate.

The Santander representative noted that weak gross domestic product growth and above-target inflation could also affect future decisions about when interest rates need to change.

Commentators will need to wait until 09:30 BST on October 20th to see the minutes from the MPC meeting.

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