Dismay for savers as Bank delays rate rise until May 2016

Mark Carney expects another one or two months of negative inflation
Mark Carney expects another one or two months of negative inflation
ANTHONY DEVLIN/REUTERS

The Bank of England has dashed savers’ hopes for an interest rate rise this year, signalling that the first move was unlikely to come until around May.

In a striking change of tone from the governor’s comments last month, when Mark Carney suggested that lift-off could be considered around “the turn of the year”, the Bank’s latest economic outlook pointed to no change until well into 2016.

The message was driven home by the minutes to this month’s decision, unveiled for the first time alongside the announcement. Only one member of the nine-strong monetary policy committee voted for an increase, confounding predictions that two might have moved. Rates were left at 0.5 per cent for a 78th month running and quantitative easing maintained at £375