The Bank of England (BoE) is expected to hold interest rates at their 48-year low of 3.5 per cent for the second month in a row next week.
A number of senior analysts this week predicted the Monetary Policy Committee would keep policy steady at the end of its two-day meeting next Thursday, two months after it chopped the benchmark lending rate by a quarter percentage point.
Many economists think the BoE may have to cut rates in the months ahead but futures markets have already started pricing in a rise by the end of the year.
Despite predictions of a slowdown, consumer demand has continued to hold up well in recent months and risks are probably to the upside. Retail sales surged 1.9 per cent in June and then fell back a smaller-than-expected 0.4 per cent in July.
Consumers continue to pile on debt thanks to low interest rates, and policymakers are getting increasingly worried they are doing this without planning for what would happen if borrowing costs rise.
Risks that the global economy will not recover strongly continue to weigh on the British outlook. The French, German and Italian economies all shrank in the second quarter - hardly something which suggest booming demand for British exports.
House prices continue to rise quite strongly despite some slowdown in the annual rates of increase. The Nationwide building society said prices rose 1.1 per cent in August, their best performance in three months, while mortgage approvals have also been on the rise, suggesting continued vigour in the market to come.