Drop in interest rates causes surprise for consumers

Struggling homeowners trying to cope with high mortgage repayments welcomed a surprise earlier this month after the Bank of England slashed the base rate by 1.5% just a month after applying a surprise 0.5% cut a day ahead of the scheduled Monetary Policy Committee meeting. The slash in interest rates has now taken the base rate down to just 3%. Just a year ago the base rate stood at 5.75%, so it is now nearly half of what it was a year ago. Read more

Tags: chancellor, Business Finance, interest rates, CBI, borrowers, bank of england, policy, order

Was the Bank of England right to keep interest rates on hold?

Following the five interest rate rises that took place between August 2006 and July 2007 the whole country seemed to breathe a sigh if relief when in December of last year the base rate was cut for the first time in two years. Another base rate cut quickly followed in February, and a further one in April. By this time many analysts and economists were wildly enthusing over how quickly and by how much interest rate were likely to come down, with some predicting that rates would fall to below 4% by the end of the year. Read more

Tags: British Retail Consortium, bank of england, CBI, interest rates, British Chambers of Commerce