THE GUARDIAN: Decision on government debt holdings could reduce market jitters and Treasury’s borrowing costs
The Bank of England has left interest rates on hold at 4% and will slow the pace of its “quantitative tightening” programme in the year ahead to avoid distorting jittery government bond markets.
The central bank’s nine-member monetary policy committee voted 7-2 to leave borrowing costs unchanged, after five cuts since summer 2024, including a reduction last month.
The MPC had been widely expected to pause rate cuts this month as annual inflation remained at 3.8% in August, nearly double the target level.
The Bank’s governor, Andrew Bailey, said: “Although we expect inflation to return to our 2% target, we’re not out of the woods yet so any future cuts will need to be made gradually and carefully.” » | Heather Stewart, Economics editor | Thursday, September 18, 2025
