Bank of England to cut rates in August but June a very close call

The Bank of England will start bringing down interest rates in August, according to a slim majority of economists polled by Reuters, while only slightly fewer of them predicted a rate cut next month.

BoE Governor Andrew Bailey said after last week’s monetary policy meeting that policymakers needed to see more evidence that inflation will stay low but said he was optimistic things were moving in the right direction and did not rule out a June cut.

The BoE lifted Bank Rate by a combined...