Bank of England poised for big rate hike to tame inflation
The IndependentFor free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Economists suggest this may be the last big rate increase for Britain’s central bank, which has approved 10 consecutive hikes since a post-pandemic surge in the world economy and Russia's war in Ukraine drove inflation to 40-year highs. “We expect the MPC to raise Bank Rate to 4% in February — likely its last ‘forceful’ hike in the tightening cycle,” Sanjay Raja, Deutsche Bank’s chief U.K. economist, said in a note to clients. But “with inflation past the peak and forward looking data continuing to point to both sluggish growth and easing price pressures, the MPC could opt to slow the pace of hikes sooner rather than later.” After more than a decade of record-low interest rates, the Bank of England began raising borrowing costs in December 2021, when its key rate stood at just 0.1%. Martin Beck, chief economic adviser to economic forecasting group the EY Item Club, said that the central bank’s November forecast for a record two-year recession now looks overly “downbeat.” “The significant fall in wholesale gas prices in the last few months means inflation should fall faster and the economy shrinks by less, and for less time, than the Bank of England anticipated three months ago,” he said.