Bank of England defies markets, keeps rates on hold

[admin]

The Bank of England kept interest rates on hold on Thursday, dashing investors' expectations for a hike that would have made it the first of the world's big central banks to raise rates after the COVID-19 pandemic. The BoE kept alive the prospect of tighter monetary policy soon, saying it would probably have to raise Bank Rate from its all-time low of 0.1% "over coming months" if the economy performed as expected. The BoE's cautious approach comes a day after the U.S. Federal Reserve said on Wednesday that it would start scaling back its bond-buying programme this month, a precursor to its first rate increase which investors expect in mid-2022.