London | The Bank of England officials unanimously decided to cut interest rates to a 19-month low, with two supporting a bumper 50-basis-point cut, prompting markets to boost bets on further easing.
The nine-member Monetary Policy Committee lowered the bank’s benchmark rate by a quarter point to 4.5 per cent, the third such reduction since August. Two external policymakers — Swati Dhingra and Catherine Mann, who has been one of the panel’s most hawkish voices — wanted a half-point cut.
