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The UK’s Bank of England has once again raised interest rates by 25bps or 0.25% as inflation continues to bite.
The bank said members of its Monetary Policy Committee had voted 7-2 in favour of the interest rate rise.
Global growth is expected to be stronger than projected in the February Monetary Policy Report and consumer price inflation in advanced economies has remained elevated. Wholesale gas futures and oil prices have also fallen materially, the bank said.
The bank said despite the February increase in inflation, it is still expected to fall sharply over the rest of the year.
It said it will continue to adjust the Bank Rate as necessary to return inflation to the 2% target sustainably in the medium term, in line with its remit.
Having fallen to 0.1% in March 2020, the BoE’s base rate have been increasing since December 2021.
The BoE rate rise follows the US Federal Reserve’s decision to increase rates by 0.25%, announced last night.
(Reporting by Imogen Lillywhite; editing by Seban Scaria)
