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mpc: 2 UK short-term interest rates had edged slightly higher during the month. Financial markets were attaching only a relatively small probability to a further reduction in the Bank's official repo rate during 2005, although markets continued to expect another quarter-point rate cut in the first half of 2006. The Reuters poll of economists painted a similar picture of rate expectations, and respondents were unanimous in expecting no change in the Bank's official repo rate at the October meeting. The upwards drift in UK short rates had come despite some downside news on GDP growth. It was therefore possible that the increase in UK short rates reflected international factors such as oil, rather than domestic factors. There had been little change in longer-term rates, either in the United Kingdom or abroad.