Bank voted 9-0 to hold UK rates

Will the Bank need to act again?

Policymakers at the Bank of England voted unanimously to hold UK interest rates at 5.75% earlier this month, minutes from the meeting have shown.

The minutes said that most members "had no firm view" on whether rates would need to rise further to cool inflation.

Rates have risen five times in the past year and many analysts had expected them to reach 6% before too long.

But on Tuesday, news of a sharp fall in inflation in July raised hopes that no more rate increases would be needed.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that consumer price index inflation fell to 1.9% in July, down from 2.4% in June.

It was the first time that CPI inflation had fallen below the government's 2% target since March 2006.

Change in mood

The Bank's rate-setting body - the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) - said that the short-term outlook for inflation "was still clouded with uncertainty, particularly about the path of household goods, food and utility prices".

We remain of the view that the MPC is in wait-and-see mode David Page, Investec

The committee noted that more effects were expected to come from the recent rises in oil prices, although some of the earlier increases have already fed through to retail prices.

Last week, in its latest Quarterly Inflation Report, the Bank had hinted that a further rise in UK rates to 6% might be needed to keep inflation under control.

However, the combination of Tuesday's inflation figures and the MPC minutes has led some analysts to suggest that there will be no rate rises in the short term.

"Very much as we expected, 9-0 is the first unanimous vote since May," said David Page at Investec.

"The key quote is that most had no firm view on whether rates would need to rise.

"We remain of the view that the MPC is in wait-and-see mode."