 For the 14th time in a row, the Bank of England has raised interest rates to nauseating highs, spelling more misery for mortgage holders. The central bank's rate-setting committee lifted rates to 5.25% from 5% today, the highest since March 2008. Policy-makers will meet to decide how much, if at all, the rate needs to be changed on September 21. It's a move almost certain to worsen fears at how deep the cost-of-living crisis has become, with economists expecting rates to keep going up until early 2024. Inflation, the speed at which prices rise, has begun to slow down slightly from the double-digit highs of last year. The current figure is 7.3%. So both rates continuing to go up isn't exactly great news for Brits, though both aren't going up quite as fast. July saw the BoE crank up interest rates from 4.5% to 5%, one of its highest increases yet. The central bank feels its best bet to ease inflation is hiking up interest rates (Picture: Reuters) Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promised to halve inflation, something that experts are saying might be a pipedream. His advice to one dad struggling to pay his £2,800 mortgage payments was to 'talk to your bank', Sunak said on LBC yesterday morning. The bank rate, the BoE's way of wording the interest rates, decides how much extra people pay for things like mortgages and loans. This is what bank policy-makers feel is their best bet to cool inflation down as it makes borrowing more expensive to put people off spending too much. Professor of Global Economy and Deputy Dean of Cranfield School of Management, Joe Nellis, told Metro.co.uk that it's all a balancing act. 'While the rate of inflation may have dropped last month, prices continue to rise, forcing the Bank of England to apply the brakes again,' he says. Anti-poverty campaigners say that interest rates not only spell misery for mortgage-holders but countless others too (Picture: Getty Images Europe) 'The decision wi){kind=link}
NEWS… BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
For the 14th time in a row, the Bank of England has raised interest rates to nauseating highs, spelling more misery for mortgage holders.
The central bank’s rate-setting committee lifted rates to 5.25% from 5% today, the highest since March 2008.
Policy-makers will meet to decide how much, if at all, the rate needs to be changed on September 21.
It’s a move almost certain to worsen fears at how deep the cost-of-living crisis has become, with economists expecting rates to keep going up until early 2024.