Bank of England expected to wait for more evidence that inflation is under control before rate cut

By PAN PYLAS
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — The Bank of England is expected to maintain interest rates at a 16-year high of 5.25% Thursday, but a cut wouldn’t be a huge surprise as inflation falls from multi-decade highs. The consensus in financial markets is that a majority of the bank’s nine-member Monetary Policy Committee will hold off from voting for a cut on Thursday — like the U.S. Federal Reserve last week — and will await a bit more evidence that measures of inflation are falling as expected. Economists think that a number of policymakers will wait until the summer before backing a cut as they are still concerned about stubborn pay growth and services sector inflation.