Interest rates: Bank of England announces rates to remain unchanged at 5.25%

There was wide speculation that interest rates would remain unchanged ahead of the announcement
Heather Carrick
By Heather Carrick
1st Feb 2024, 12:22pm
The Bank of England has announced that interest rates will remain unchanged at 5.25%. (Credit: Yui Mok/PA Wire)The Bank of England has announced that interest rates will remain unchanged at 5.25%. (Credit: Yui Mok/PA Wire)
The Bank of England has announced that interest rates will remain unchanged at 5.25%. (Credit: Yui Mok/PA Wire)

Interest rates remain unchanged at 5.25%, the Bank of England has announced in its latest update.

Policymakers on the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted to keep rates at the same level for another month. Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has said that the MPC “need to see more evidence” that inflation is going to stay around the bank's target of 2% before they start cutting interest rates.

He said: “Today we’ve decided to hold interest rates at 5.25%. We have had good news on inflation over the past few months. It has fallen a long way, from 10% a year ago to 4%. But we need to see more evidence that inflation is set to fall all the way to the 2% target, and stay there, before we can lower interest rates.”

There is optimism that interest rates could climb back down in the future, after the Monetary Policy Report forecast that inflation could drop to 2% between April and June 2024. However, it is forecast to rise again in the second half of 2024 and into 2025 due to predicted energy prices.

Related topics:Bank of EnglandInterest RatesInflation

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