The Bank of England kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged on Thursday after inflation data for August remained unchanged, with expectations growing for another rate cut before the end of the year.
The Bank of England cut interest rates for the first time last month, lowering the interest rate level by 25 basis points. Inflation in the UK has been gradually slowing this year, falling from 4% in January to 2.2% in August, up slightly from the lows of 2% in May and June. But last month's inflation rate was the same as in July as rising airfares offset the impact of falling fuel and catering prices.
Britain's service sector inflation rate has remained high, which is one of the key focuses of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee. James Smith, UK economist at ING, said that the continued decline in expected and actual wage and price growth in recent months points to further rate cuts in the future. Coupled with the continued cooling of the job market, we believe that the broad consensus of the Bank of England will shift to support a faster pace of rate cuts throughout the winter. We expect a series of rate cuts from November to reduce the bank rate to 3.25% by the summer of next year. (Jinshi)