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81% believe interest rates will be cut next week

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Nine out of eleven financial industry experts believe the Bank of England (BoE) will cut interest rates next week, which could interest business insurance holders.

An Adfero survey found two of the specialists believed it was too difficult to predict in the current economic climate.

Charles Davis, senior economist at the Centre for Economics and Business Research, predicts this could be the last of the monetary policy committee's base rate cuts.

He forecasts that they will reach either 0.5 or 0.25 per cent and remain untouched as less conventional methods are deployed.

"The bank rate has almost become a secondary debate because all the talk is of quantitative easing," he asserts.

Howard Archer, UK chief economist for Global Insight, expresses the uncertainty of the decision.

The last meeting's minutes expressed doubts about the effectiveness of further decreases, he claims.

Mr Archer states that this could mean the next cut will reach the floor that interest rates will remain at.

At present, the interest rate stands at one per cent following February's 0.5 percentage point reduction.ADNFCR-873-ID-19050178-ADNFCR

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