Latest UK interest rate to be announced

Dearbail Jordan
Business reporter

At midday today, two things will happen: the Bank of England will
announce its interest rate decision and the BBC will publish a news story all
about it.

How can we do this at the same time? The secret is that we journalists get to see the announcement an
hour or two before its wider release.

Because it is market-sensitive information – an unscrupulous
trader could, theoretically, make a lucrative bet on the decision if they had
prior knowledge – the Bank of England locks us all in its basement to stop any
leaks. Not a joke. We must also hand over our phones and the wi-fi is turned off.

But it means that we get time to go through both the rate announcement
and, four times a year including today, a big old brick of a report setting out
the Bank’s forecasts for the UK economy and inflation.

So, we read, we write, we scoff biscuits and by the time
12:00 rolls around, the wi-fi is switched on and the story wings its way from the laptop to you.

See you on the other side.