The Bank of England today left interest rates unchanged for the fifth month in a row to give it more time to assess the strength of the economy.
The bank's rate-setting committee decided to leave interest rates at 4.5 per cent as it waits for further evidence on factors such as the strength of consumer spending and wage growth.
All eyes will now be on next month's meeting, when policymakers will have additional data available because of the bank's quarterly Inflation Report.
With many experts predicting the next move will be downwards, any suggestion in the report that inflation could be weaker than expected may prompt a cut.
Many analysts have pencilled in a cut during the next few months due to slower economic growth and the possibility of inflation failing to reach its target.
But this has been countered by stronger signs in areas such as consumer spending. Evidence that retailers enjoyed a better Christmas than originally thought emerged this week when the British Retail Consortium said like-for-like sales improved 2.6 per cent.
And policymakers are also weighing up the possibility of stronger wage growth.