Posted by James Curtis
Contractors working as
sole traders or
limited companies in the UK could be among those to notice bank credit becoming harder to access.
Financial planning firm Informed Choice has claimed that the Bank of England's stance over interest rate could have a negative impact on the economy by increasing the cost of borrowing.
The Bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted to keep the historic low rate of 0.5 per cent last month and Informed Choice believes this is unlikely to change in 2010.
Martin Bamford, the organisation's chartered financial planner, said: "We expect the MPC to maintain the Bank Rate at 0.5 per cent for at least the rest of this year. It would be a big surprise to see a rate hike now."
He also warned that this will mean there is a "real danger" that the cost of borrowing will rise.
"We might see some short-term inflation spikes, particularly when VAT goes up to 20 per cent in January, although a lot of the inflation we see in the UK is imported so interest rate changes here will do little to control it," he added.