Bank of England postpones next week’s interest rate decision after Queen’s death

The Bank of England have announced they will postpone next week's interest rate decision following the death of the Queen.

They were expected to announce a rise in interest rates, the latest in a series of increases, in a meeting next week. The meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee will now take place following week instead, with the new rate to be decided on 22 September.

“In light of the period of national mourning now being observed in the United Kingdom, the September 2022 meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee has been postponed for a period of one week,” it said.

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It follows decisions by several public bodies to change their plans for the coming week. The Office for National Statistics cancelled the publication of all data on Friday, while the Met Office has said it will only be posting daily forecasts and warnings during the 10-day mourning period.

Analysts at Deutsche Bank had said that interest rates were likely to increase by 0.5 percentage points to 2.25% – its highest since December 2008. Others at BNP Paribas said that “there are arguably compelling reasons to up the ante” and raise rates to 2.5% at the next meeting.

They said that while energy bills may have been capped, broader inflation still remains high for households and businesses alike. “Although the first-order impact of ‘Trussonomics’ will be to lower inflation over the next 12 months, the sheer scale of stimulus is likely to add to inflation in the medium term, pointing to a higher terminal rate than the MPC had previously embedded,” BNP Paribas said.

The analysts added: “The MPC might feel a sense of political pressure too. While Truss and new Chancellor