LONDON, Sept 23 (Reuters) – The Bank of England said the case for higher interest rates “appeared to have strengthened” on Thursday after it nudged up its forecast for inflation at the end of the year to over 4%, more than twice its target rate.
The BoE said it expected the overshoot to be temporary, but two policymakers called for an immediate halt to the British central bank’s 895 billion pound ($1.23 trillion) bond purchase programme, which is due to run until year-end.
Sterling rose by almost a cent against the U.S. dollar and two-year British government bond yields surged by their most since March 2020 as traders bet on an earlier rate rise by the BoE, which would be the first major central bank to hike since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The U.S. Federal Reserve said on Wednesday that it could start to slow its asset purchase programme as soon as November, and earlier on Thursday Norway’s central bank raised rates, joining a handful of other developed economies in doing so.
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Source: Reuters
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