The Bank of England agreed to keep the UK’s benchmark interest rate unchanged at 5.25%, amid recent progress in controlling inflation.

The pause in Britain’s rate hike cycle was taken by a majority of five votes, compared with four officials who wanted a new increase of 25 basis points.

With this, the series of 14 consecutive increases in the UK benchmark interest rate has ended.

“Monetary policy must be tight enough over a long enough period of time to return inflation to the 2% target sustainably over the medium term, in line with the Committee’s mandate,” the Bank of England said in a statement. “Further tightening of monetary policy will be necessary if there is evidence of more persistent inflationary pressures.”

Although inflation is still far from the target, the day before the announcement, the country’s authorities revealed that inflation slowed to 6.7% at an annual rate in August, which was the lowest level since February 2022, which, along with other recent data, motivated the central bank to leave rates at the same level.

Analysts polled by financial portal Investing.com had expected a 25 basis point rise in the UK reference interest rate, which would put it at 5.5%.

The British regulator’s decision contrasts with the 25 basis point increase made by the European Central Bank applied to your interests last week, given the inflation outlook in the region and the dynamics of the underlying index – or an index that discounts energy and agricultural prices due to its high volatility – still requires new adjustments.

However, the Bank of England moved in the same direction as the US Federal Reserve yesterday decided to stop for a moment its bullish cycle for the second time this year, although the possibility of a final rise is still open in November or December.