LONDON, April 24 Reuters The British pound was little changed against the dollar on Monday, trading in close proximity to a 10month high hit earlier this month as markets expect the Bank of England to continue tightening policy to bring down inflation.

Data last week showed British consumer prices at 10.1 in March, the only country in Western Europe with doubledigit inflation.

This bolstered bets that the BoE would need to hike interest rates by more than previously expected, with a raft of banks revising upward their expectations for further monetary tightening.

Inflation hasn39;t come down sufficiently, the labour market continues to be tight and wage growth is still accelerating so we think the BoE will be inclined to go with another 25 basis point hike in May, said Danske Bank FX analyst Kirstine KundbyNielsen.

In an interview published late on Friday, BoE deputy governor Dave Ramsden said the central bank needed to focus on tightening monetary policy sufficiently to control inflation.

Economists polled by Reuters expect the BoE to raise rates by a further quarter point on May 11 to 4.5, in what would be its 12th consecutive rate rise since starting to increase interest rates in December 2021.

Traders meanwhile fully price in a 25 basis point hike at the May meeting.

At 1040 GMT, the pound was flat against the dollar at 1.2448. It hit its highest level since June last year at 1.2545 on April 14.

Sterling has been one of the best performing major currencies…