Bank of England Holds Interest Rate at 5 Percent

The Bank of England (BoE) has left UK interest rates unchanged at 5 percent, maintaining its restrictive monetary policy position. The BoE is cautious about slashing the interest rates “too fast or by too much.” The bank has long stressed that it will keep the monetary policy restrictive for as long as it takes for the inflation to “sustainably” remain at the 2 percent target. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted on Thursday by a majority of 8-1 to maintain interest rates at 5 percent, unchanged from August. Since the rate was slashed from 5.25 to 5 percent last month, inflationary pressures have continued to ease and the economy “has been evolving broadly as we expected,” said the BoE Governor Andrew Bailey....