Bank may cut rates twice

The Bank of England may choose to cut the base rate of interest twice early on in 2008.

That is according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics), whose chief economist appeared on Channel Four's 'News at Noon'.

Simon Rubinsohn told the programme that the fact all nine Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) members voted in favour of a cut in December suggests that more cuts are set to come soon.

"2008 isn't going to be the easiest of years for the housing market, but although there's a lot of negativity around – and it's easy to see why – actually there are some positive issues that one can focus on, which will ultimately we believe underpin the housing market," he said.

"In particular, we've seen the Bank of England cut interest rates recently. We believe that they will cut interest rates again at least once, if not twice, in the first few months of 2008," continued Mr Rubinsohn.