10/05/2007

Interest rates rise to 5.5%

The Bank of England has announced that interest rates will rise from 5.25% to 5.5%.

The rise is the fourth since last August, bringing the cost of borrowing to its highest level since 2001.

The rise has been expected by analysts in order to try and keep inflation down.

Last month, the Bank of England was forced to write a letter of explanation to Chancellor Gordon Brown after inflation rose to 3.1% in March.

The government's target for inflation is targeted at 2% and the Bank is required to keep inflation between 1% and 3%.

The rise means that homeowners with a £100,000 mortgage will have to pay an extra £16 per month on average on mortgage repayments.

A statement released by the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee said: "CPI inflation picked up to 3.1% in March. Lower gas and electricity prices and weaker import price inflation mean that CPI inflation is likely to fall back to around the 2% target in the course of this year. But the margin of spare capacity in firms appears limited and there are signs that businesses are more able to push through the price increases. Relative to the 2% target, the risks to the outlook for inflation in the medium term consequently remain tilted to the upside.

"Against that background, the Committee judged that a further increase in bank rate of 0.25 percentage points to 5.5% was necessary to meet the 2% target for CPI inflation in the medium term."

(KMcA/JM)


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