Bank of England rate hike decision: The Bank of England is set to raise interest rates Thursday for the 14th time in a row to a fresh 15-year high and keep the door open for further increases in the months to come as it tries to tamp down persistently high inflation. Most economists think the UK central bank will increase its benchmark rate by a quarter of a percentage point, to 5.25 per cent. There had been fears, certainly among hard-pressed households and businesses, that the bank would repeat its outsized half-point increase from June. But figures last month showing that inflation fell more than anticipated to 7.9 per cent eased the pressure to act as aggressively again.

COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

"With inflation still four times the 2 per cent target, the Bank of England has little choice but to raise the bank rate again and leave the door open to further hikes in upcoming meetings," said Kallum Pickering, senior economist at Berenberg Bank. Though the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank raised rates last week, they are thought to be nearer to taking a pause because inflation has come down more sharply than in the UK Price spikes have eased to 3 per cent in the United States and 5.3 per cent across the 20 countries that use the euro currency.

stock market updates here. For all other news related to business, politics, tech, sports and auto, visit Zeebiz.com.