The British central bank has given the first cautious signals for tightening monetary policy.

"A slight tightening of monetary policy will probably be necessary during the forecast period in order to reach the inflation target in the medium term," said a statement after the meeting of the Bank of England's (BoE) monetary policy committee on Thursday.

The prerequisite is that the economy develops as expected.

Initially, however, the Bank of England is sticking to its loose monetary policy.

The central bank announced that the key interest rate remained unchanged at 0.10 percent.

Analysts had expected this decision.

The purchase program for government and corporate bonds was also confirmed.

It still totals £ 895 billion.

Nervousness increases

"The nervousness among the British central bankers in view of the sharp rise in inflation in Great Britain has increased," commented Elmar Völker, an analyst at LBBW.

“The first rate hike can therefore be expected within the next two and a half years, with the British sending signals similar to those of their colleagues at the Fed before,” writes Völker.

In fact, the BoE expects inflation to climb to four percent in the fourth quarter.

She raised her prognosis significantly.

The target value aimed at by the central bank is 2.0 percent.

According to the BoE, this rise in inflation is temporary.

In the medium term, inflation should therefore again meet the target value.

Bond purchases are retained

One member of the committee, Michael Saunders, voted in favor of reducing the bond purchases as soon as possible, while the remaining seven members were in favor of keeping them.

The monetary policy committee also decided that bond purchases could be reduced if the key interest rate rose to 0.5 percent.

So far she had spoken of 1.5 percent.

However, the central bank could in future also lower the key interest rate below zero if this were necessary.

The British pound only gained a little for a short time. UK government bond yields also rose only temporarily. The statements essentially corresponded to the expectations of economists.