Business
Bank of England’s Mann says fall in inflation pressure has long way to go
Published by Jessica Weisman-Pitts
Posted on October 24, 2024
2 min readLast updated: January 29, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
Published by Jessica Weisman-Pitts
Posted on October 24, 2024
2 min readLast updated: January 29, 2026
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Bank of England interest rate-setter Catherine Mann welcomed a recent fall in inflation in Britain but said the cooling of price growth still had “a long way to go” for the central bank to hit its 2% inflation target over the medium term.
“Our headline price print … was lower than projected in the August Monetary Policy Report. Services, which, of course, we have looked at very carefully for persistence, came in under 5% for the first time in a very, very long time,” Mann said.
A little bit of a concern, goods prices are a little bit higher. In order to get to a target consistent (with a) 2% inflation rate, services still have a long way to go,” she said in a panel discussion on the sidelines of meetings of the International Monetary Fund in Washington.
Mann voted against the BoE’s quarter-point cut to borrowing costs in August.
Asked during the panel discussion about her stance on rates now, Mann said: “If you have structural persistence in the relationship between wages and price formation that lasts, that is persistent and embedded, then it’s premature to start cutting until you purge those behaviours.
Investors are pricing a roughly 88% chance of another 25 basis-point rate cut by the BoE at its November meeting.
(Writing by William Schomberg in London; editing by Suban Abdulla)
Inflation is the rate at which the general level of prices for goods and services rises, leading to a decrease in purchasing power.
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom, responsible for issuing currency, maintaining monetary stability, and overseeing the financial system.
Interest rates are the amount charged by lenders to borrowers for the use of money, typically expressed as a percentage of the principal.
A rate cut refers to a reduction in the interest rate set by a central bank, aimed at stimulating economic activity by making borrowing cheaper.
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