Bank of England meets expectations with 0.5 percentage point hike

7-2 split

The Bank of England has met market expectations today (2 February) after hiking interest rates by 50 basis points to 4%.

With a 7-2 split, the bank's Monetary Policy Committee took interest rates to a new 14-year high as it attempted to tackle persistent inflation. UK inflation has remained high despite slowly declining, sitting at 10.5% in December, even as the central bank makes its tenth consecutive rate hike. The MPC warned that UK domestic inflationary pressures had been "firmer than expected," noting that private sector pay growth and services inflation had been "notably higher than forecast" in the bank's November prediction. It added that inflation is expected to fall to about 4% by the end o...