Bank of England keeps Interest Rates Steady at 5.25%

The Bank of England kept interest rates steady at 5.25% on Thursday as the Monetary Policy Committee voted 6 to 3 in favor of holding interest rates.

The bank said in a statement: “The Monetary Policy Committee remains ready to adjust monetary policy as required by economic data to return inflation to the 2% target in a sustainable manner.”

“The Bank will therefore continue to closely monitor indicators on persistent inflationary pressures and the resilience of the economy as a whole, including a range of measures related to the underlying tightening of labor market conditions, wage growth and service price inflation. On this basis, the committee will keep under review to see how long the bank rate will remain at its current level.

Most of the market's focus recently has been on when the central bank will start cutting interest rates, which are currently at their highest level in 15 years.

UK headline inflation rose unexpectedly to a level of 4% in December on an annual basis, while the closely watched core CPI remained unchanged at 5.1%.

However, it remained on an overall downward path, while the bank's key indicators of the labor market, wage growth and services' inflation showed signs of decline.