Two years ago, Britain’s economy was entering an uncertain winter. The Omicron variant of Covid-19 was hitting businesses hard. Furlough had ended. Inflation was at a 10-year high of 5.1%.
Against this backdrop – two years ago this week – the Bank of England took its first tentative step to raise interest rates from 0.1% to 0.25%. A month earlier, the Bank had ducked a decision to raise rates given concerns over the end of the government’s furlough scheme, wrong-footing financial markets. Few predicted how far Threadneedle Street would go next.
