The cost of borrowing stayed at 5.25 per cent on Thursday, signalling that the Bank of England is prepared to wait and see how successful previous interest rate rises have been in cooling the economy.

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Analysts said the Bank’s decision to stay its hand was unsurprising given recent mixed data. In addition, turmoil in global equity and currency markets over the past week had made it less likely that the Bank’s monetary policy committee would want to risk delivering a surprise hike to an already jittery City. The annual rate of inflation is currently at 2.7 per cent, above the government’s 2 per cent target.