The Bank of England has decided to pause interest rates. This follows the Federal Reserve decision yesterday to pause interest rates. The decision to pause rates follows recent official inflation data when the rate of price rises came in lower than expected. Core UK inflation – which excludes energy, food, alcohol, and tobacco – fell by more than expected, from 6.9% in July to 6.2% in August.

The current rate of inflation is 6.7% with the BOE target rate set at 2%.

MPC voted by a majority of 5–4 to maintain Bank Rate at 5.25%

UK GDP is estimated to have declined by 0.5% in July

CPI inflation is expected to fall significantly

Next decision due date: Next due: 2 November 2023

More to follow…