{"id":120859,"title":"The Bank of England has left UK interest rates on hold at 4.5%","publisher":"Share Talk","author":"sharetalk","published":"2025-03-20T12:19:54+00:00","modified":"2025-03-20T12:19:54+00:00","canonical_url":"https://www.share-talk.com/the-bank-of-england-has-left-uk-interest-rates-on-hold-at-4-5/","markdown_url":"https://www.share-talk.com/the-bank-of-england-has-left-uk-interest-rates-on-hold-at-4-5.md","json_url":"https://www.share-talk.com/the-bank-of-england-has-left-uk-interest-rates-on-hold-at-4-5.json","category":"B2B","categories":["B2B","Blogs","Business & Support Services","Technology","Technology, Media & Telecoms"],"tags":["BANK","Bank of England","banking","BARC","Barclays","Benchmark","BoE","buyback","Chancellor","childcare","CME Group","consumers","Coverage","CS Venkatakrishnan","domestic","energy bill","England","FCA","Fed","Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation","Federal Reserve","FREE","FTSE 100","FTSE 250","FTSE100","futures","Goldman Sachs","household","HSBC","HSBC Holdings","Inflation","investors","Jeremy Hunt","Legal & General","lending","Lloyds Banking Group","London","midcap index","NatWest Group","Ofgem","pandemic","price cap","Prime Minister","program","Prudential","Qatar","Regulators","Rishi Sunak","SEC","Serious Fraud Office","share","Share Talk","ShareHolders","silicon valley","Silicon Valley Bank","SIVB","SVB","The Bank of England","Traders","Treasury","UK","Underground","USA","Wall Street"],"featured_image":"https://i0.wp.com/www.share-talk.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/BANK-OF-ENGLAND-OCT-24.webp?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1","format":"news","language":"en-GB","content":"The Bank of England has kept UK interest rates steady at 4.5%, despite concerns that trade tensions could weigh on economic growth.\n\nPolicymakers faced a difficult choice between a slowing economy and persistent inflation but ultimately held rates.\n\nThe decision was not unanimous, with the Monetary Policy Committee voting 8-1 to maintain the current rate. Swati Dhingra was the sole member advocating a quarter-point cut to 4.25%. Meanwhile, Catherine Mann, who had previously backed a rate cut alongside Dhingra, opted to keep rates unchanged.\n\nAnnouncing the decision, the Bank says:\n\n> As the Committee noted in February, there has been substantial progress on disinflation over the past two years, as previous external shocks have receded, and as the restrictive stance of monetary policy has curbed second-round effects and stabilised longer-term inflation expectations. That progress has allowed the MPC to withdraw gradually some degree of policy restraint, while maintaining Bank Rate in restrictive territory so as to continue to squeeze out persistent inflationary pressures.\n>\n> Since the MPC’s previous meeting, global trade policy uncertainty has intensified, and the United States has made a range of tariff announcements, to which some governments have responded. Other geopolitical uncertainties have also increased and indicators of financial market volatility have risen globally. The German government has announced plans for significant reform to its fiscal rules.\n\nThe Bank of England’s widely anticipated decision follows the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting on Wednesday.\n\nThe US central bank also held interest rates steady but downgraded its growth forecast for the world’s largest economy, citing growing uncertainty driven by President Trump’s trade policies.\n\nSanjay Raja, senior economist at Deutsche Bank, noted that the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will need to navigate carefully, stating, “The path ahead will be one of careful calibration,” while warning that “uncertainty remains elevated.”"}