The Bank of England speeded up its monetary tightening today (August 4), as it predicted sharply higher UK inflation by the end of the year.

The BoE’s policy-makers voted 8–1 to increase the policy rate by 50 basis points, to 1.75%. Previously, members of the monetary policy committee had voted for hikes of 25bp or less.

The BoE also revised its headline forecast for inflation in the fourth quarter of 2022 to 13.1%, three percentage points higher than the May forecast.

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