17 September 2026
If you are covering the Bank of England's decision to leave interest rates unchanged, please find below a comment from Richard Carter, head of fixed interest research at Quilter Cheviot:
"The Bank of England is officially the last one standing of the central bank triumvirate, choosing to continue to hold interest rates while everyone else raises them. Last night the Federal Reserve said inflation had been too high for too long and would do what is in its power to bring it down. The Bank of England, by contrast, appears comfortable to look past spiking inflation and keep rates where they are, for now.
"There are signs that suggest this might be a prudent approach at this juncture. Core inflation remained steady earlier this week, while employment in the UK is still shaky. With much of the current spike in inflation energy based, due to the Middle East, the Bank of England has very little control over the path for overall inflation, so a rise now could cause more economic pain at a time when eyes are on Budget speculation.
"That said, markets still expect the BoE to raise rates at least once this year and a few more times into next. There is an argument that it could end up being too slow to respond to inflation should these energy price rises seep into other parts of the economy and become entrenched.
"But monetary policy conditions remain tight, with a quantitative tightening policy continuing to be pursued by the BoE. The BoE clearly believes this is enough for now not to warrant an insurance hike, but the longer inflation remains above target and the closer it gets towards 4%, the more likely subsequent rate hikes could be brought forward."
