The Bank of England, in its meeting today, Thursday, kept interest rates unchanged at 0.10% by a unanimous vote of the nine members. Continuation of the £20 billion asset purchase programme.
The bank said in a statement that the consumer price index or inflation was expected to rise temporarily in the near term to 4% in the fourth quarter of this year with developments in energy and commodity prices, and now the bank expects it to increase slightly more than 4% in the fourth quarter, but it is expected to decline and stabilize At the bank’s target of 2% in the medium term.
The bank members revised their expectations for the level of gross domestic product in the third quarter of this year by about 1% compared to the August report, while the statement indicated that the unemployment rate fell to 4.6% in the three months ending in July, which is less than the expectations of the August report.
The bank confirmed that the committee will closely monitor evidence and developments regarding the labor market, unemployment and inflation in the medium term and wage pressures.
The British pound is rising against the US dollar by more than 25 points and testing 1.37 levels with the beginning of the announcement of the statement and before the opening of the US markets.