Overview
This survey forms part of the Bank’s quantitative market intelligence gathering. It is formulated by Bank of England staff, and enhances policymakers’ understanding of market expectations. The questions involve topics that are widely discussed in the public domain, and never presume any particular policy action. Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) members are not involved in the survey’s design.
Survey respondents originate from a broad set of market participant firms, selected by the Bank based on a number of criteria, including: (i) relevant market activity in UK rates or money markets; (ii) expertise in UK rates markets and/or UK monetary policy; (iii) willingness to participate regularly in the survey and in the Bank’s market intelligence activity; and (iv) membership of one of the Bank’s external market committees.
Please contact MarketParticipantsSurvey@bankofengland.co.uk for queries or for further information.
Survey results
The survey was open from 3–5 September 2025 with responses being received from 89 market participants. For most questions, median responses across participants, along with the 25th and 75th percentiles, are reported.footnote [1] For questions that ask respondents to weight different factors or assign probabilities to specific outcomes, the mean weightings or probabilities are reported. For questions that ask respondents to select one option from a given set of possibilities – the respondent count against each option is reported.
Question 1: Expectations for Bank Rate
1a) What do you see as the most likely level of Bank Rate after the following MPC meetings? (a)
25th percentile | 50th percentile | 75th percentile | Number of responses | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
18 September 2025 MPC | 4.00 | 4.00 | 4.00 | 88 |
6 November 2025 MPC | 3.75 | 4.00 | 4.00 | 88 |
18 December 2025 MPC | 3.75 | 3.75 | 4.00 | 86 |
5 February 2026 MPC | 3.50 | 3.75 | 3.75 | 88 |
19 March 2026 MPC | 3.50 | 3.50 | 3.75 | 88 |
30 April 2026 MPC | 3.25 | 3.50 | 3.75 | 87 |
18 June 2026 MPC | 3.25 | 3.50 | 3.50 | 87 |
30 July 2026 MPC | 3.25 | 3.50 | 3.50 | 86 |
One year ahead (September 2026 MPC) | 3.00 | 3.25 | 3.50 | 89 |
End-2026 Q4 | 3.00 | 3.25 | 3.50 | 85 |
End-2027 Q1 | 3.00 | 3.25 | 3.50 | 80 |
End-2027 Q2 | 3.00 | 3.25 | 3.50 | 79 |
Two years ahead (September 2027) | 3.00 | 3.25 | 3.50 | 81 |
Three years ahead (September 2028) | 3.00 | 3.25 | 3.50 | 78 |
Five years ahead (September 2030) | 3.00 | 3.25 | 3.50 | 76 |
1b) And where do you see the level of Bank Rate at which monetary policy is neither expansionary nor contractionary (often referred to as the neutral, natural or equilibrium rate)? (a)
25th percentile | 50th percentile | 75th percentile | Number of responses |
|---|---|---|---|
3.00 | 3.25 | 3.50 | 87 |
1ci) Please indicate the percentage probability that you attach to Bank Rate being at the following levels after the 18 September 2025 meeting. (a)
Mean probability (%) | |
|---|---|
3.50% | 0.2 |
3.75% | 6.8 |
4.00% | 92.2 |
4.25% | 0.7 |
Footnotes
- (a) In the question provided to respondents, the different Bank Rate outcomes spanned <2.75% and >5.25% at the extremes, and all 25 basis point increments in between. Results have been truncated where the mean probabilities above or below a certain outcome were close to or at zero. Mean probabilities are rounded to one decimal place. 86 respondents answered this question.
1cii) Please indicate the percentage probability that you attach to Bank Rate being at the following levels after the 6 November 2025 meeting. (a)
Mean probability (%) | |
|---|---|
3.25% | 0.1 |
3.50% | 2.0 |
3.75% | 38.7 |
4.00% | 57.8 |
4.25% | 1.3 |
4.50% | 0.1 |
Footnotes
- (a) In the question provided to respondents, the different Bank Rate outcomes spanned <2.75% and >5.25% at the extremes, and all 25 basis point increments in between. Results have been truncated where the mean probabilities above or below a certain outcome were close to or at zero. Mean probabilities are rounded to one decimal place. 86 respondents answered this question.
1d) Please assign percentage probabilities to Bank Rate reaching its lowest level this cycle, or ‘trough rate’, at the following levels. (a)
Mean probability (%) | |
|---|---|
At the current level of 4.00% | 6.8 |
3.75% | 13.5 |
3.50% | 23.1 |
3.25% | 19.0 |
3.00% | 17.0 |
2.75% | 7.6 |
2.50% | 4.4 |
2.25% | 2.5 |
2.00% | 1.6 |
1.75% | 1.0 |
<1.75% | 3.4 |
1e) Please weight the following factors (%) in terms of their importance in influencing your expectations for the near-term path for Bank Rate. (a)
Mean weighting (%) | |
|---|---|
Your own perceptions of the UK outlook | 44.3 |
Your own perceptions of the global outlook | 21.2 |
The MPC’s projections and communications | 32.3 |
Other | 2.1 |
1f) The August Monetary Policy Report noted that ‘based on the Government’s plans set out in Spring Statement 2025, the overall stance of fiscal policy is tightening materially over the MPC’s forecast period’. Taking the policies set out in the Spring Statement as given, what impact have your expectations for the outcome of the 2025 Autumn budget had on your most likely expectations for Bank Rate at the following points? (a)
Count | ||
|---|---|---|
End-2025 | End-2026 | |
+50 basis points | 0 | 3 |
+25 basis points | 9 | 7 |
0 basis points | 60 | 25 |
-25 basis points | 14 | 36 |
-50 basis points | 1 | 9 |
<-50 basis points | 1 | 5 |
Question 2: Macroeconomic outlook
2a) Please provide the annual rate of CPI inflation – conditioned on your Bank Rate expectations (question 1a) – that you see as most likely at each of the following time horizons. (a)
25th percentile | 50th percentile | 75th percentile | Number of responses | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
End-2025 Q3 | 3.8 | 3.9 | 4.0 | 82 |
End-2025 Q4 | 3.5 | 3.6 | 3.7 | 82 |
End-2026 Q1 | 3.0 | 3.2 | 3.4 | 82 |
End-2026 Q2 | 2.5 | 2.7 | 3.0 | 82 |
One year ahead | 2.3 | 2.5 | 2.7 | 80 |
Two years ahead | 2.0 | 2.2 | 2.5 | 78 |
Three years ahead | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.5 | 78 |
Five years ahead | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.5 | 77 |
2b) The August Monetary Policy Summary stated that the ‘timing and pace of future reductions in the restrictiveness of policy will depend on the extent to which underlying disinflationary pressures continue to ease’. Please weight the following factors (%) in terms of their importance in influencing your own assessment of the extent to which underlying disinflationary pressures continue to ease. (a)
Mean weighting (%) | |
|---|---|
Employment and vacancies | 20.7 |
Wage growth trends | 24.2 |
Domestic demand outlook | 14.1 |
Core inflation trends | 20.6 |
Other components of headline inflation | 9.7 |
Survey and market-based measures of inflation expectations | 10.0 |
Other | 0.8 |
2ci) Please assign probabilities to the following rates of annual CPI inflation three years ahead. (a)
Mean probability (%) | |
|---|---|
<=1.00% | 2.3 |
1.01%–1.40% | 3.7 |
1.41%–1.80% | 10.2 |
1.81%–2.20% | 34.6 |
2.21%–2.60% | 23.3 |
2.61%–3.00% | 13.8 |
>3.00% | 12.0 |
2cii) Please assign probabilities to the following rates of annual CPI inflation on average from 5 years ahead to 10 years ahead (ie analogous to the five-year, five-year forward rate). (a)
Mean probability (%) | |
|---|---|
<=1.00% | 2.1 |
1.01%–1.40% | 3.4 |
1.41%–1.80% | 10.8 |
1.81%–2.20% | 36.5 |
2.21%–2.60% | 23.3 |
2.61%–3.00% | 13.1 |
>3.00% | 10.8 |
2d) Please provide the annual rate of UK GDP growth – conditioned on your Bank Rate expectations (question 1a) – that you see as most likely at each of the following time horizons. (a)
25th percentile | 50th percentile | 75th percentile | Number of responses | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
2025 | 1.00 | 1.25 | 1.30 | 80 |
2026 | 1.00 | 1.10 | 1.26 | 79 |
2027 | 1.20 | 1.30 | 1.50 | 75 |
Question 3: Expectations for balance sheet and gilt yields
3a) At its September 2024 meeting the MPC voted to reduce the stock of UK government bonds held for monetary policy purposes by £100 billion over the following 12 months to September 2025, to a total of £558 billion. Please provide the annual reduction in the stock of gilts held in the Asset Purchase Facility, comprising both maturing gilts and gilt sales in initial purchase proceeds terms, that you see as most likely over the following annual review cycles (£ billions). (a)
25th percentile | 50th percentile | 75th percentile | Number of responses | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
October 2025–September 2026 | 50 | 65 | 75 | 78 |
October 2026–September 2027 | 31 | 50 | 60 | 75 |
October 2027–September 2028 | 28 | 44 | 50 | 74 |
October 2028–September 2029 | 35 | 40 | 50 | 74 |
3b) What do you see as the most likely level for the 10-year gilt yield at the following points in the future (%)?
25th percentile | 50th percentile | 75th percentile | Number of responses | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
End-December 2025 | 4.50 | 4.6 | 4.75 | 80 |
End-June 2026 | 4.25 | 4.4 | 4.60 | 81 |
End-December 2026 | 4.00 | 4.3 | 4.50 | 78 |
Question 4: Expectations for exchange rates
4a) What do you see as the most likely level for GBPUSD one year ahead?
25th percentile | 50th percentile | 75th percentile | Number of responses |
|---|---|---|---|
1.3075 | 1.3500 | 1.3900 | 72 |
4b) What do you see as the most likely level for EURGBP one year ahead?
25th percentile | 50th percentile | 75th percentile | Number of responses |
|---|---|---|---|
0.8500 | 0.8714 | 0.8874 | 72 |
Throughout, the Xth percentile is calculated by ranking the survey responses in ascending order and reporting the response which is ranked in position k where k is (X/100)*(sample size – 1) + 1. For numeric answers, where k is not an integer (ie this position lies between two responses), the result is interpolated by applying the percentile proportional to the distance between them. Discontinuous answers, such as policy meeting dates, are not interpolated. Instead, the first response which covers at least X% of the sample is reported.