According to economists and traders in financial markets surveyed by the Financial Times (FT), the Bank of England (BOE) is unlikely to hike the bank rate this month, in the face of looming uncertainty about the new Omicron covid variant.

Key takeaways

“A majority of members of the BoE’s Monetary Policy Committee to decide at their meeting on December 16 that they need more time to evaluate the implications of Omicron, and will vote to leave rates on hold at the historic low of 0.1 percent.”

“Economists are unsure about the BoE’s likely response to new information about Omicron after the central bank surprised markets by not raising rates in November, despite surging prices of goods and services.”

“Most economists expect the negative impact of Omicron on the gross domestic product to be modest.”

Read: GBP/USD: Another dollar surge? US inflation could outweigh Omicron, UK GDP