It’s not surprising the Bank of England didn’t cut interest rates

Interest rates have been held at 4.75 per cent. The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee voted 6-3 to maintain the base rate, with the minority voting to further reduce rates by 0.25 percentage points.

This is an unsurprising move from the Bank of England. Markets weren’t optimistic that another rate cut would follow so soon after last month’s 0.25 percentage point cut. But after this week’s labour market data – showing that wages are up – and inflation data – showing prices up, too – it was highly unlikely a cautious Bank was going to push ahead with another rate cut this month.

Today’s minutes reflect these concerns. ‘Services consumer price inflation has remained elevated’ the Bank notes. ‘Headline CPI inflation is expected to continue to rise slightly in the near term.’