In the UK, anemic economic growth is set to bring inflation lower, with the Consumer Price Index expected to decline to just 2.6% in the year to February, the lowest in 11 months. Minutes from the last meeting of the Bank of England revealed that policymakers voted unanimously to cut interest rates by 50 basis points and begin quantitative easing, committing to spend 75 billion pounds to buy government bonds fearing that price growth may slip well below the 2% target rate this year. Economists forecast benchmark rates to remain at 0.50% through the first quarter of next year as inflation comes in at just 1% in 2009 and 1.6% in 2010.
