The Bank of England has held rates at 5.25%, after 14 successive increases since November 2021.
The Bank of England has held interest rates at 5.25%.
The decision followed 14 successive increases since November 2021 as the Bank tried to control inflation, which has been slowing but remains high.
The Bank of England is the UK's central bank. It is independent of government but works closely with the Treasury.
It describes its key job as ensuring the UK has secure banknotes, stable prices, a safe banking sector and a resilient financial system .
The bank has a target to keep inflation - the official measure of how quickly prices are rising - at 2%.
The headline Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation rate - which tracks the price of a typical basket of goods - has dropped from a high of 11.1% in October 2022 to 6.7%, in September , the same as in August.
Food prices saw their first monthly fall in two years, but fuel prices rose sharply.
Despite the drop, CPI is still more than three times the Bank's target.
"Core" inflation - which excludes the price of energy, food, alcohol and tobacco - dropped to 6.1% in September, down from 6.2% in August.
The recent sharp increases in inflation were initially due to rising energy and food costs - largely caused by global events such as the war in Ukraine - but other factors, things like wage increases in the UK, have also helped keep prices high.
The bank's traditional response to rising inflation is to increase the UK's official interest rate.
This influences the saving and borrowing rates charged by High Street banks to individuals and businesses.
Since November 2021, the Bank has increased interest rates on 14 successive occasions.
However, in September, the bank held rates at 5.25% . It had been widely expected to put them up to 5.5%.
Higher interest rates mean people have to pay more for their mortgages, for example, which means they have less money to spend on other things.
Fewer people wanting to buy things should, in theory, mean that prices rise less quickly.
It also makes it harder for firms to borrow money and expand.
Alternatively, if the bank cuts interest rates, borrowing becomes cheaper, and people have more money to spend on other things.
This can encourage businesses and people to borrow and spend more, boosting the economy.
Despite the recent falls in the headline rate of inflation, the Bank of England was still expected to raise Interest rates again in September.
The Bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meets eight times a year to set rates.
Its nine members vote on whether to increase, reduce or hold interest rates.
Minutes of the meeting at which the decision was taken are also published.
Four times a year, the bank also publishes a Monetary Policy Report , which sets out the economic analysis and inflation projections that the MPC uses to make its interest rate decisions.
The Bank of England also buys and sells government bonds .
Bonds are a bit like an "I owe you" from the government, which uses them to raise money to help meet its spending commitments.
In the period from the 2009 financial crisis until 2021, the Bank of England bought £875bn of government bonds. This was done through a process called quantitative easing , which was designed to reduce overall government borrowing costs, lower interest rates and stimulate spending in the economy.
The bank also announced an emergency bond-buying programme to try to stabilise the economy after September 2022's mini-budget caused turmoil on financial markets.
Once that intervention ended, the bank said it would go ahead with a plan - first announced in August 2022 - to sell off some of the government bonds it holds.
The bank also:
Andrew Bailey took over as governor in 2019, having already worked at the bank for more than 30 years.
He was the bank's chief cashier from January 2004 until April 2011, which meant his signature appeared on billions of UK banknotes.
As well as being responsible for overseeing the bank, the governor also chairs three important committees that help it work towards its targets: the Monetary Policy Committee, the Financial Policy Committee and the Prudential Regulation Authority.
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produces banknotes and oversees credit and debit card payments
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regulates banks and building societies
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monitors risks in the UK financial system and acts to reduce them, like lending to banks if they need it. It shares responsibility for this with the Treasury and financial regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority
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stores the UK's gold reserves - 400,000 bars worth more than £200bn - as well as those of other central banks.