BoE vote unanimously to hold interest rates

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waterman

Written by Dan Waterman
March 19th 2026
A vote of 9-0 to hold rates today was the first time we have seen a unanimous MPC vote since September 2021..

The vote, result and comments at the Bank of England today were all fully expected and the Pound remains unchanged across the board. 

The next BoE meet isn't until the end of April, which leaves plenty of time for a ceasefire and more predictable market conditions. But the central bank are expecting inflation to rise, it's just too early to tell by how much right now. The 2% target had been expected by the end of Q2 this year, but it's likely to be more around 3.5% now.

So, it's back to the 'higher rates for longer' play which will continue to aid £-€ because of the interest rate premium and a rebound in the £-$ price is expected once the Iran-US war is over due to the USD safe-haven premium.

"If the economy evolves as we expect, there should be scope for some further cuts to bank rate this year" - This was an interesting note from the meeting as it doesn't really align with what the market is thinking or expecting this year because of the impact of the conflict in the Middle-East. 

The ECB have also held their interest rate today but this was a non-event due to the stable nature of the Euro-Zone currently. Yesterday, the Fed too held rates as expected citing "elevated uncertainty' regarding energy prices, inflation and the economy.

Financial markets remain in hypersensitive territory, but the FX market has been somewhat lackluster so far this week (that's a good thing by the way!).