“We expect no change to UK monetary policy at the Bank of England’s (BoE) meeting on Thursday (1st February), keeping the Bank Rate at 5.25%,” Raithatha mentioned. “But, given the large undershoot to the inflation forecast in recent months, we expect the tightening bias to be dropped and instead anticipate monetary policy committee members will lay the groundwork for rate cuts in the middle of the year. Starting to cut as early as the Spring seems too early in our view, given the persistence of core/services prices.”