Interest rates stay the same for eighth month

For the eighth month in a row the base interest rate has remained at its all time low of 0.5 percent. The announcement was made following the monthly Monetary Policy Committee earlier this week. Read more

Tags: finance, time, bank, easing, output, governor, quantitative easing scheme, committee

Falling living standards in store for nation

The new deputy governor of the Bank of England, Charlie Bean, has warned the nation that it needs to brace itself for a year of hardship, stating that they will have to face falling living standards over the next twelve months. Mr Bean said that soaring inflation levels and rising oil prices were set to cause further financial misery for consumers, and he added that the nation was facing the toughest time since the early 1990s and perhaps even earlier. Inflation levels have now soared to 3.8%, which is nearly double the government target. Read more

Tags: supply, extra sources, mr bean, pay, couple, early 2000s, governor

Inflation levels hit 11 year high

June saw inflation levels rise to an eleven year high of 3.8% as a result of soaring food and petrol prices, according to recent reports. The rate of inflation for May had already hit highs of 3.3%, resulting in the governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, having to write to the chancellor, Alistair Darling, to explain why inflation had soared so high and what would be done to bring it back down. However, the situation is now even worse, with inflation nearly double the government’s 2% target. Read more

Tags: recent additions, member voting, inflation, governor, gordon brown

Base rate set to increase to 5.75 per cent?

The Bank of England’s monetary policy committee may be tempted to increase the base rate to 5.75 per cent at this week’s monthly meeting on Thursday, many commentators believe.

Howard Archer, chief economist at the Global Insight consultancy, claims that the committee will experience a “very tight vote again”.

At last month’s meeting, the governor of the Bank of England Mervyn King’s desire to increase rates for a fifth time since August 2006 was blocked by MPC members for the first time since the bank gained independence ten years ago.

Mr Archer said that only one of the five who voted to hold rates at 5.50 per cent last month would have to change their vote to effect a rate rise.

Last month, Mr King said that Britons should expect a further interest rate increase to cope with an over-heating economy and increasing inflationary pressures.

Despite UK inflation falling to 2.5 per cent in May, this was still some way below the government’s two per cent target.

Tags: inflationary pressures, time, governor, economy, britons, month, mr archer, bank