18/06/2026
https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/the-interest-rate-bank-rate
Published on 18 June 2026
The Monetary Policy Committee is responsible for maintaining monetary stability by keeping inflation low and stable. It meets eight times a year to decide what level of Bank Rate is needed to return inflation to – or keep it at – the 2% target over time.
Key points:
we have held Bank Rate at 3.75%
war in the Middle East has disrupted the transportation and supply of energy, raising its price and pushing up households’ motor fuel costs and utility bills; prices have fallen since the initial spike but the war makes it hard to predict what is going to happen with them
inflation has fallen to 2.8% but we expect it to go up again as the energy price rises have their knock-on effects; higher bills could force businesses to increase their own prices to cover the cost; workers may ask for higher wages as their bills have also gone up; the impact on the economy and inflation will depend on how long energy prices stay raised
demand for workers isn’t very high right now, so employers may feel less pressure to increase salaries; and interest rates are still higher than before the war broke out; this could contain the effects of the energy price rises and help reduce inflation over time
monetary policy cannot affect global energy prices; our job is to make sure that higher inflation does not persist and have long-lasting effects on the economy
we are monitoring the situation very closely; whatever happens, we’ll make sure that inflation gets back to the target in the medium term
Bank Rate affects other interest rates in the economy – we use this as a tool to keep inflation stable
