LONDON, Jan 21 - Following is a selection of economists' reactions to the minutes of the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee's January rate meeting and to the latest data on public finances. The BoE meeting minutes showed that only one of the nine MPC members, Sir Andrew Large, voted for a rate hike, citing worries about household debt. The MPC concluded that only a gradual rate rise was necessary if the economy grew as forecast in November, though they said the global economy and domestic demand had accelerated since it made those predictions. Separately, the Office for National Statistics said the British public finances went into record deficit in December, 13.1 billion pounds in the red compared with consensus forecasts for 11.9 billion pounds.
MICHAEL HUME, ECONOMIST, LEHMAN BROTHERS
"From the headlines that we're seeing it does look as though the MPC as a whole is still minded to lift rates in the near future. "Coupled with Mervyn King's speech yesterday ... it looks like we're going to get a rate hike in February.
PSNB figures: "They're pretty grim actually. "Although the December figures look okay, the November revisions are pretty drastic and not good news for the Chancellor at all. We're getting to that point now where the Chancellor is going to come under pressure from outside opinion that his fiscal rules are not going to be met."//