The Bank of England signalled Thursday that officials are preparing to raise interest rates within months to restrain accelerating inflation, a fresh sign that a decade-long era of ultra-loose central bank policy is slowly drawing to a close, MarketWatch reports.

The BoE held its benchmark interest rate steady at 0.25% following its September policy meeting but the rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee said in a statement that a majority of officials on the nine-member panel believe borrowing costs will soon need to rise to bring annual inflation back to its 2% goal.