Interest rates held steady amidst economic concerns

Interest rates held steady amidst economic concerns

02 Nov 2023

The Bank of England has kept the base rate at 5.25% for the second consecutive month despite reporting higher than expected inflation figures over September 2023.

The Bank’s decision will be welcome news for borrowers and comes on the back of initial data suggesting a rise in unemployment and fragile economic growth forecasts. The Bank is also expecting there to have been a drop in inflation over October and so appears to be adopting a wait and see brief in relation to its rates decisions.

Henry Shore, Consultant at XPS Pensions Group, commented: Pension scheme members will be hoping that the Bank’s decision to maintain rates won’t result in inflation falling more slowly, given that current rates of inflation have been eroding the real value of their benefits. However, the decision will still be very welcome news for the significant number of pension scheme members with mortgages, or other debt, to pay off.