Bank of England meets expectations as rates held at 5.25%

6-3 decision

The Bank of England has held interest rates at 5.25% in a 6-3 decision, while reasserting that its monetary policy stance is likely to remain restrictive "for an extended period of time".

The central bank's Monetary Policy Committee voted 6-3 to hold interest rates steady, with the minority voting to raise rates by 25bps. While inflation has fallen sharply from its peak of 11.1% in October 2022, it still sits at over twice the BoE's 2% target, at 4.6%. The MPC said key indicators of UK inflation persistence "remain elevated" and is expected to remain near to its current rate "around the turn of the year". "In particular, services price inflation is projected to increase temporarily in January, related to base effects from unusually weak price movements at the start of ...