The lender of England is expected to hold profit rates at a conference later today.

Most analysts forecast the point of reference rate will remain at its current level of 4.75% when the selection is announced at 12:00 GMT.

It comes as expense boost rose for the second month in a row to 2.6% in the year to November – pushing it further above the lender’s target of 2%.

In November, the lender’s governor Andrew Bailey said the path for rates would likely be “downward from here” but cautioned that the procedure would be gradual.

The lender moves rates up and down to try to control expense boost, which measures the pace of overall worth rises.

The concept is that if you make borrowing more expensive, people have less money to spend. People may also be encouraged to save more.

In turn, this reduces demand for goods and slows the rate at which prices are rising.

But it is a balancing act – increasing borrowing costs risks harming the economy.

Businesses, for example, may borrow less, making them less likely to make jobs. Some may cut staff and reduce stake distribution.

The lender’s economic strategy Committee (MPC) – the throng of people at the lender that decide on rates, cut them in November from 5% to 4.75% – the second reduction in 2024.

However, rising prices, combined with figures on Tuesday that showed faster growth in wages, recommend that the central lender may require to hold profit rates at their current level for longer.

Paul Dales, chief UK economist at the ponder tank, stake distribution Economics, said November’s higher expense boost figure made it very unlikely that profit rates would be cut on Thursday.

“There is almost no chance of the lender of England delivering an early Christmas now with another profit rate cut,” he said.

“That’s especially the case since domestic expense boost pressures appear to be a touch stronger than the lender expected.”

stake distribution Economics predicts expense boost will dip in December and then rise again in January.

But it anticipates that by the complete of next year, it would have fallen back to close to the lender of England’s 2% target.

The lender’s base profit rate heavily influences the rates High Street banks and other money lenders fee customers for loans, as well as capitalization cards.

Lenders have mostly “priced in” the impact of a base rate hold or cut when making decisions on their own profit rates.

Mortgage rates are still much higher than they have been for much of the history decade.

The average two-year fixed mortgage rate is 5.04% according to monetary information business Moneyfacts. A five-year deal has an average rate of 4.14%.