BoE Policy Meeting Preview

In terms of scheduling, the Bank of England has changed tack. August 6 will not just bring a MPC decision but also the minutes of the policy meeting in addition to the Quarterly Inflation Report. To allow time for the minutes to be written, the policy decision will no longer come at the end of a two-day meeting but after talks that will take place the week before in addition to the Wednesday immediately prior to the decision. These arrangements have been tested in both June and July.  Extending the goal of greater transparency, from now on MPC policy decisions will always be accompanied by a communication from the Bank, even on non-Inflation Report months. Adding interest to this month's meeting is the likelihood that one or two members will express a preference for an immediate hike in the Bank rate. The minutes of the July meeting indicated that if the uncertainty caused by Greece had been absent last month the decision between holding the Bank rate at its current level versus a small increase would have been more finely balanced for 'a number of members, says Rabobank.