Bank of England raises interest rates to 0.5%

Rates now 0.5%

The Bank of England has raised interest rates from 0.25% to 0.5% in its first back-to-back hike since 2004.

The bank's Monetary Policy Committee voted in a majority of five to four to raise rates to 0.5%, with the members that voted against the hike actually preferring to increase rates to 0.75%, suggesting future hikes were imminent. The MPC wrote that "some further modest tightening in monetary policy is likely to be appropriate in the coming months". The hike had been expected by analysts due to the UK's high inflation, which the bank said today is expected to climb to 6% in February and March before peaking at 7.25% in April, 2% higher than the peak that had been predicted in November. ...