The Bank of England decided, by a slim margin among its policymakers, to cut interest rates on Thursday for the first time in more than four years amid slower inflation.

Britain’s central bank lowered rates a quarter of a percentage point to 5 percent, the first rate cut since March 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic shut down large parts of the economy. The rate cut brings an end to the most aggressive efforts of the central bank to stamp out high inflation, which reached double-digits less than two years ago.

The decision is likely to bring some relief to mortgage holders and business owners who have been stung by the rising cost of borrowing. For the past year, interest rates were held at 5.25 percent, the highest level since 2008.

But policymakers warned that interest rates would be lowered slowly, which would keep their policy stance restrictive for a while.

“We need to make sure inflation stays low, and be careful not to cut interest rates too quickly or by too much,” Andrew Bailey, the bank’s governor, said in a statement.

The central bank’s decision was close. Five members of its nine-person rate-setting committee, including Mr. Bailey, voted to lower rates. They argued that inflation, which was at 2 percent in June, had abated enough to begin easing policy. But several of them said that the risks of persistent inflationary pressures had not “conclusively dissipated,” according to the minutes of this week’s policy meeting.

The other four members said they would have preferred to wait for more evidence that inflationary pressures had subsided before cutting rates. The split decision reflects the uncertainty about the strength of domestic price pressures.

Despite inflation falling to the central bank’s 2 percent target, policymakers have been concerned that stubborn price pressures, specifically from higher wages and the services sector, would push the inflation rate back above their target and hold it there.

Several major central banks have been grappling with the same problem. On the one hand, officials have warned that premature rate cuts would make it even harder to sustainably return inflation to 2 percent. At the same time, they have not wanted to keep interest rates high for longer than necessary and cause undue economic damage.

The European Central Bank cut rates in June but then paused at the following meeting, emphasizing its cautious approach to easing policy. The Federal Reserve held rates on Wednesday but said that they could begin lowering rates next month if data continues to suggest inflation is cooling.