Bank Of England Holds Key Interest Rate At 5.25% After 14 Hikes

London:

The Financial institution of England on Thursday held rates of interest at 5.25 p.c following a shock slowdown to UK inflation and sooner or later after the US Federal Reserve additionally pressed pause.

The BoE determination to freeze borrowing prices on the highest degree in additional than 15 years adopted 14 straight hikes after international inflation soared to the very best ranges in a long time.

“Additional tightening in financial coverage could be required if there have been proof of extra persistent inflationary pressures,” the BoE stated in minutes of its newest common coverage assembly.

The choice to to not hike borrowing prices for the primary time since December 2021 was a detailed name with 5 of the 9 policymakers, together with governor Andrew Bailey, voting for a freeze.

Britain’s Client Costs Index eased to six.7 p.c final month from 6.8 p.c in July, knowledge confirmed Wednesday.

That was the bottom since February 2022 and confounded expectations for an acceleration to 7.1 p.c on larger vitality costs.

In a bid to chill costs, the BoE started lifting its key rate of interest from a file low of 0.1 p.c on the finish of 2021, when inflation began to creep larger as economies slowly emerged from lockdowns.

Additional tightening occurred as international inflation soared after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine despatched vitality and meals costs rocketing.

(Apart from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)