BOE Survey Points to Faster Price Rises, But Slowing Wage Growth

A facts-only brief, written by a local AI model from this article in The Wall Street Journal, October 30, 2026. It may contain mistakes, and it is not the article: the full story is at wsj.com.

A Bank of England survey released Friday indicated that U.K. businesses expected to increase prices by 3.8% over the next year, a slight rise from the 3.7% projected in September. The central bank noted that this implies output price inflation will remain stable based on three-month averages. While policymakers are anticipated to raise the key interest rate to 4% from 3.75% at their upcoming meeting, the survey showed no evidence that higher inflation is driving a corresponding surge in wage growth.

Background

• The survey polled 1,945 chief financial officers between October 2 and 16, a period during which energy prices remained elevated following the U.S.-Iran conflict that began in late February.
• Wage growth slowed to 3.9% in the year ending October, down from 4% in September, with businesses projecting a further decline to 3.4% over the next 12 months.
• Bank of England regional agents reported that weak demand and a looser labor market are limiting the ability of firms to pass higher costs onto customers, preventing a general late-year inflation premium in pay settlements.
• Seventy-one percent of surveyed executives expected their profit margins to decrease due to the jump in energy prices.

Read the full article at wsj.com

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