Bank Of England Raise Interest Rate

The Bank of England has raised the interest rate from 0.5% to 0.75%. The quarter of a percentage point rise sets the rate at its highest level since March 2009.

The rise in the interest rate will no doubt increase the interest costs of residential mortgages that have variable or tracker rates. It will be interesting to see if the rise in the rate is passed on to savers.

What are interest rates?

Interest is what you pay for borrowing money, and what banks pay to you for saving money. Interest rates are shown as a percentage of the amount you borrow or save. This is paid as interest over the course of a year. So if you put £100 into a savings account offering a 1% interest rate, you’d have £101 a year later.

In response to the increase in the rate Alpesh Paleja, CBI Principal Economist, said: ‘This decision was in line with our expectations. The case for another rate rise has been building, with inflationary pressures being stoked by a tight labour market and many indicators now suggesting that weak activity in the first quarter of 2018 was a blip. The Monetary Policy Committee has signalled further rate rises over the next few years, if the economy evolves as they expect. These are likely to be very slow and limited, particularly over the next year as uncertainty around Brexit takes its toll on business investment.’