In addition, official rates will remain near zero as long as unemployment is above 6.5 percent.
That would argue for a cut in official rates, not to mention the sort of liquidity provision the bank offered on September 19th.
Earlier, acting to counter real or feared deflation in much of the developed world, the authorities had kept money loose and official rates low.
Given the expectation that the Fed will keep official rates near zero, economists say that means Treasury rates will remain at multi-decade lows as well.
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They charge up to ten times more than informal channels, must change money at official rates and, in some countries, levy a tax on the exchange.
Cuts in official interest rates in the industrial countries have also helped stabilize global financial conditions.
Losses on loans would rise alarmingly if the economy were to contract sharply or official interest rates to rise.
Raising official interest rates sufficiently to prick what may or may not be one could itself trigger a deep recession.
On the other hand, if a central bank responds by cutting official interest rates too drastically, it may push up inflation, or cause expectations of future inflation to rise.
The projection was based on "the assumption that official interest rates move in line with market expectations of a small rise in rates over the next year, " the Bank said.
The rate at which banks lend to each other has been rising, which has meant that banks are toughening up their lending terms even though official interest rates are falling.
The Committee noted that cuts in official interest rates could not be expected to resolve the current problems in financial markets and that a significant increase in the capital of the banking sector would be required.
Bank borrowing costs reached 6.88% on September 30th, more than three times the level of official American rates, while some were willing to pay a remarkable 11% to borrow dollars from the European Central Bank (ECB).
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But if there is one thing about which investors can be more or less sure, it is that for the first time in years, official interest rates in America, Europe and Japan are heading in the same direction.
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"This method was not suitable as mortgage interest payments are directly influenced by official interest rates, which would make the new index less suitable for use as an inflation target measure, were the government to decide to do so at some point in the future, " the ONS said.
Many multinational companies manage to pay substantially below the official corporation tax rates by using tax havens such as Caribbean islands.
Martin Barnes of Bank Credit Analyst, a research firm, points out that the direction of official policy (low rates, quantitative easing, big deficits) looks inflationary but the economic fundamentals (a big output gap, sluggish credit growth) look deflationary.
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They were able to spot signs of flu in a geographical area one to two weeks faster than the CDC, which relies on reports of hospital admissions, mortality rates and other official data.
Russia has many different types of interest rates, but the official refinancing rate is currently 8.25%.
FORBES: Russia Economy Looking Better; Unemployment Drops to 6.4%
It also creates the potential for the Fed to (mistakenly) provide opportunities for arbitrage between the official gold price and the interest rates set by the central bank.
Rejecting pressure from the U.S. Fed to cut interest rates, one ECB official said there is too much money in circulation, another sign that Europe is seeking its own way out of what it sees as a crisis born in the U.S.A. Sylvia Poggioli, NPR News, Brussels.
This also makes per capita consumption hard to measure, with official figures sometimes well below actual consumption rates.
Hong Kong-based businesses tend to agree that the safety of the peg and the stability of markets and interest rates were worth a brief official hand on the tiller.
An Aetna Inc. official at an investor conference Monday suggested the rates might settle somewhere between Medicare and commercial.
But official figures on both job losses and unemployment rates are squishier.
These low rates are particularly shocking given that the official tax rate is 35%.
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But the fact that the Fed failed to announce nominal income growth as its official target (focusing instead on interest and inflation rates) made it more difficult for the Fed to keep the economy on this path during the financial crisis.
Even if Greece's official creditors give some leeway, by slightly lowering interest rates or rescheduling debt payments, the threat will remain that Greece will have to leave the euro.
The British Banking Authority (a bank lobbying group) has been in charge of collecting the rates from banks, and has done so without any official regulation.
While child poverty in 2010 declines from 16.8 million in the official measure to 13.6 million in the SPM, poverty rates among working age adults and the elderly increase by almost 6 million people.
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