UK interest rates are close to a descent – maybe starting as soon as next month

Last year, the Bank’s chief economist said the path of interest rates was likely to mirror the shape of South Africa’s Table Mountain. Photograph: Linda Nylind/The Guardian

Huw Pill, the Bank of England’s chief economist, said last year that the path of interest rates was likely to mirror the shape of South Africa’s Table Mountain: steep-sided but with a plateau at the summit.

Judging by the Bank’s latest monetary policy report, Pill and the other eight members of Threadneedle Street’s monetary policy committee (MPC) are now only a few short steps from starting their descent from the mountain top. But they are not quite there yet.