The Bank of England raised its benchmark rate by a half percentage point on Thursday citing stronger-than-expected wage growth but softened its stance on future tightening as inflation is set to return to the target in medium term. The Monetary Policy Committee voted 7-2 to raise the bank rate by 50 basis points to 4.00 percent, the highest since 2008.
Swati Dhingra and Silvana Tenreyro voted to maintain status quo. They argued that the effects of the past increases were still to come through and the current rate setting would reduce inflation to well below the target in the medium-term.
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April 17, 2026 15:29 ET The ongoing conflict in the Middle East continues to raise concerns for policymakers who worry about the impact of the supply shock and high energy prices on the real economy. Producer price data and various survey results on the housing market were the main news from the U.S. this week. In Europe, industrial production data for the euro area gained attention. GDP figures out of China and the policy move by the Singapore central bank were in focus in Asia.