<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;">The Bank of England is expected to raise its key interest rate for a 15th straight time Thursday but the possibility of a pause has surfaced after a surprise dip in UK inflation.</span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The BoE had been widely tipped to raise borrowing costs again heading into this week's monetary policy meeting until official data Wednesday on consumer prices in August clouded the outlook.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The UK central bank is announcing its decision a day after the US Federal Reserve held interest rates steady but has said another hike is likely in 2023, with fewer cuts in 2024.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Thursday also sees rate decisions from the central banks of Norway, Sweden and Switzerland -- all expected to hike as inflation remains relatively high in the three European nations.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The BoE could still join them by raising its rate to 5.5 percent from 5.25.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">However, "what had seemed like a sure thing is cast into doubt", noted Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Moments after the shock inflation number was released, the market expectation of a Bank of England rate rise began to plummet."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Consumer Prices Index eased to 6.7 percent last month from 6.8 percent in July.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">That was the lowest since February 2022 and confounded expectations for an acceleration to 7.1 percent on higher energy prices.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Following the data, a Bloomberg survey of analysts showed another rate hike was a 50-50 chance.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Interest-rate decisions were due Thursday also from Indonesia, South Africa and Turkey.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Cost-of-living crisis -</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A fresh BoE hike would put its borrowing cost at the highest level since the start of the global financial crisis more than 15 years ago.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Central banks have tightened borrowing costs to multi-year highs as worldwide inflation soared following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with energy and food prices surging.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The European Central Bank has carried out 10 straight rate rises but is now signalling that eurozone borrowing costs may have reached a peak.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It comes as data this week showed eurozone inflation slowed slightly in August.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">UK inflation struck a 41-year peak at 11.1 percent in October 2022, while the BoE is tasked by the British government with keeping the level at about two percent.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a bid to cool prices, the BoE began lifting its key interest rate from a record low of 0.1 percent at the end of 2021, when inflation started to creep higher as economies slowly emerged from lockdowns.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The increases have worsened a cost-of-living crisis, with retail banks following suit by significantly hiking mortgage rates.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Landlords, faced with higher repayments, have in turn pushed up rents by sizeable amounts.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">At the same time, banks are offering higher returns on savings, for those who can afford to set money aside. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>