Bank Of England Hold Key Rate; Slows Quantitative Tightening

(RTTNews) - The Bank of England decided to hold its key interest rate and to reduce the stock of government bond purchases by GBP 70 billion over the coming twelve months.

The Monetary Policy Committee, governed by Andrew Bailey, voted 7-2 to leave the bank rate unchanged at 4.00 percent.

The bank had lowered the rate five times since August 2024 and took it to the lowest since early 2023.

Swati Dhingra and Alan Taylor sought a quarter-point reduction in the rate citing that the disinflation process was continuing.

The MPC also voted by a majority of 7-2 to lower the stock of government bond purchases held for monetary policy purposes, and financed by the issuance of central bank reserves, by GBP 70 billion from October 2025 to September 2026, to a total of GBP 488 billion.

A majority of members said a decrease in the pace of quantitative easing to GBP 70 billion from GBP 100 billion over the previous year, would be consistent with the MPC's key principles and objective.