Bank of England poised to hike rates again despite UK economic woes

0.5% decline in GDP in July

After 14 consecutive hikes, the Bank of England remains poised to hike interest rates again this year, despite poor GDP numbers in July.

Analysts had expected just a 0.2% decline in GDP, but today (13 September), the Office for National Statistics reported a 0.5% drop in July, as wet weather and strikes impacted productivity and spending. Marcus Brookes, CIO of Quilter Investors, described the poor figures as the UK economy "buckling under the strain of repeated interest rate increases". Derrick Dunne, CEO of YOU Asset Management, warned that since the effects of rate hikes take up to a year to fully effect the real economy, "it is possible today's drop will only be the tip of the iceberg in terms of economic pain". ...