LONDON — The Bank of England left its monetary policy unchanged on Thursday, but warned of a more pronounced period of above-target inflation in the near term.

The central bank also raised its inflation forecasts, as expected by economists, following two consecutive months of above-forecast readings.

“Overall, Bank staff now expect inflation to rise materially further in the near term, temporarily reaching 4% in 2021 Q4 and 2022 Q1, 1½ percentage points higher than in the May projection,” the bank said in its monetary policy report.