MPC interest rate hawks tamed by Greek crisis

Hawkish members of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) keen to begin edging up interest rates were cowed by the recent turmoil in Greece, its latest meeting minutes reveal.

The MPC voted unanimously for rates to stay at 0.5% at its July meeting, and for no further quantitative easing beyond the £375bn of assets already purchased. Some members had wanted to push for a small rate rise, arguing there is a risk medium-term inflation will rise above the committee's 2% target. But uncertainty caused by the latest twists in the economic and political sagas in Greece forced them to rethink their stance. "[Greece] was a very material factor in their decisions: absent that uncertainty, the decision between holding Bank Rate at its current level versus a small i...