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The Bank of England must decide how forcefully to talk about the prospect of a first interest rate rise in a decade on Thursday when it will weigh up the need to help Britain’s Brexit-bound economy against tackling a jump in inflation

The BoE’s policymakers are widely expected to leave rates at a record low 0.25 percent when they make their latest policy statement at 11:00 GMT.

But all eyes will be on its chief economist, Andy Haldane, to see if he switches sides and joins the two members of the central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee who have been voting in vain to reverse last year’s quarter-point cut in rates.

If he moves now, markets are likely to price in a strong chance of a rate hike as early as the BoE’s next meeting, in November, potentially unsettling Britain’s economy, which has already shown signs of faltering this year.

Most economists polled by Reuters at the end of last month do not expect rates to rise until 2019.

The consensus expectation is for a 7-2 vote on Thursday to keep rates on hold at 0.25 percent, and no change to the 435 billion pounds ($575 billion) of government bond holdings or 10 billion pounds of corporate debt.

Reference: Reuters

Read More: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-boe/bank-of-england-to-balance-brexit-and-inflation-as-it-seeks-right-note-on-rates-idUSKCN1BO2WU