UK firms' inflation expectations drop in February, BoE survey shows

LONDON (Reuters) - British businesses' expectations for inflation over the coming years dropped last month, but they expected wage growth to remain at a level higher than most Bank of England policymakers want, a BoE survey showed on Thursday.

Businesses said they expected inflation in one year's time to be 3.3%, down from an expectation of 3.4% in January, and expectations for inflation in three years' time averaged over the past three months dropped a similar amount to 2.8%.

Expectations for wage growth over the coming year remained unchanged at 5.2% on a three-month moving average basis.

The BoE's Decision Maker Panel survey was based on 2,373 responses between Feb. 2 and Feb. 16.

(Reporting by David Milliken; Editing by Alex Richardson)