UK interest rates trimmed to 5.5%
Thursday, 6th December 2007
Expectations of a rate cut had risen in recent days after figures indicated that economic conditions had deteriorated over the past few weeks.
Analysts had said that the Bank's decision was one of the hardest it had faced during the past decade.
This was because of concerns about inflation and the impact that a rate cut may have on price growth.
Bleaker picture
The cut in the cost of borrowing by the bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) was the first since August 2005.
Interest rates have risen five times since the middle of last year, but the Bank had kept rates on hold since July.
The Bank has been keen to keep price growth under control, and many analysts had predicted that they would want to see oil and food cost pressures abate before moving to lower interest rates.