Bank of England keeps main UK interest rate at 15-year high of 5.25% and cautions over oil prices

By PAN PYLAS
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — The Bank of England kept its main interest rate unchanged at the 15-year high of 5.25% and indicated that borrowing costs will likely remain at these sort of elevated levels for a while yet especially if oil and gas prices increase sharply because of the Israel-Hamas war. The bank’s nine-member Monetary Policy Committee indicated in a statement Thursday that inflation as measured by the consumer price index is set to fall quite dramatically in the next month. But it will take a while to get toward its 2% target rate over the coming year. The U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank have also held interest rates over the past week.