The Bank of England raised the benchmark rate by a half percentage point on Thursday, defying expectations for a bigger move, as policymakers assessed that the UK economy has already landed in a recession.
The Monetary Policy Committee decided to raise the bank rate by 50 basis points to 2.25 percent from 1.75 percent, in a three-way split vote. The seventh straight rate hike took the interest rate to the highest since the 2008 global financial crisis.
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May 01, 2026 15:54 ET Central banks dominated the economics news flow this week with almost all major ones announcing their latest policy decisions and many boosted expectations for a rate hike in June. In other news, several countries released the preliminary data for first quarter economic growth. In the U.S., comments by Fed Chair Jerome Powell were also in focus as his term ends this month.