The United Kingdom has reported a 0.4% decline in GDP for the third quarter of 2009, as compared to the market expectation of 0.2% growth. This means, the country is not going to make any major reversals in the interest rate in the short term. Moreover, Mervyn King, the Governor of Bank of England is determined to pump more money into the economy. This means interest rates are unlikely to rise in short term.
Given these circumstances, one can predict that the UK government will raise rates any time to boost their economy. However, the popular prediction is that if the inflation remains subdued, there will not be any interest rate rise during 2009 and 2010. The markets predict that the rates will rise rapidly if inflation increases due to numerous reasons, including oil prices and quantitative easing. ‘Quantitative easing’ refers to the money the government pumps into the economy as a monetary policy measure.
Just like the UK economy, the US is also expected to witness a modest rebound during 2010. There are signs of a recovery in many markets. For example, financial analysts believe that the mortgage rate has reached the absolute bottom recently and would increase in the coming months. It is very difficult to do interest rates predictions a percentage point increase in rates is expected for both the economies during 2010.