VE Day two-minute silence to delay Bank of England rates announcement

The Bank if England has said they will delay the interest rates decision on Thursday due to the VE Day two-minute silence.

Due to the 80^th anniversary of VE Day the bank will announce the rates decision at 12:02 instead of 12, noon.

It is widely expected that the Bank will make an interest rate cut this month by .25%, then again in June there could be another cut.

But, they have warned, due to inflation “accelerating” the Bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC) remains “cautious.”

Rob Wood, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said there could be cuts in May and in June, he added that “accelerating inflation will keep MPC guidance cautious.”

He said, “The MPC can get away with a couple of precautionary rate cuts back-to-back in May and June given the darker growth outlook, but we think rate setters will continue to signal a gradual and cautious approach to easing after that.

“The MPC took an extended period to try and return inflation to target after the post-Covid surge, allowing inflation expectations to de-anchor modestly, so they have to put more weight on suppressing inflation now.”