Explaining today’s decision, Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey says rate-setters have been encouraged by falls in oil costs, but know that inflationary pressure is coming. 

“Oil prices have fallen in recent days, and that’s encouraging. But they’re still higher than before the war,” he says. 

“Whatever happens in the future, the higher energy prices of the past four months mean there’s already some inflationary pressure in the pipeline.

“The Bank’s job is to make sure that doesn’t turn into sustained inflation above our 2% target.”