First UK interest rate rise in a decade still likely despite modest growth

The absence of a post-Brexit vote recession, potential wage inflation and the Bank's hawkish comments all point toward a rise

It wasn't much, but for the Bank of England the slight pickup in growth will probably be enough to trigger the first increase in official interest rates in more than a decade.

The economy's trend rate of growth is a touch above 2% a year, so by that benchmark the 0.4% rise in gross domestic product in the third quarter was modest. Growth has been weaker in the first three quarters of 2017 than it was in the six months after the June 2016 EU referendum.

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