The Bank of England raised interest rates by a quarter percentage point to 4.75 per cent today in the fifth such increase since November.
With the British economy growing above its long-term average, or trend rate, and house prices still rising fast, many analysts predict the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee might raise rates again next month, as it did in May and June.
All but one of 45 economists polled by Reuters last week had predicted a quarter point rise, though there had been some outside talk of a bigger move after a run of strong data.