Bank’s rate rise suggests that Britain’s weak economic growth could be as good as it gets in the medium term 2 August 2018 Commenting on the Bank of England’s decision today (Thursday) to raise interest rates from 0.5 to 0.75 per cent, Matt Whittaker, Deputy Director of the Resolution Foundation, said: “The Bank’s unanimous decision to raise interest rates reflects its view that, while current economic growth is relatively weak by historic standards, this is as good as it’s likely to get over the medium term. “This somewhat pessimistic view is driven by the fact that, ten years on from the crisis, Britain’s poor productivity record is looking less like a blip, and more like a new normal. “It is this weak productivity growth, rather than today’s modest rate rise, that has the biggest implications for household living standards, with the Bank projecting that wages and incomes will continue to perform sluggishly at best over the coming years.”
