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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Larry Elliott and Phillip Inman

Is Bank of England about to break precedent on interest rates?

Bank of England Interest Rates Inflation Chris Williamson Economy Eddie George Krishna Guha MPC Stephen Millard Recession
Ken Clarke and Eddie George in April 1997
Interest rates last went up by that margin when Eddie George, right, was Bank of England governor. Photograph: Dennis Owen/Reuters

The US Federal Reserve has done it. The European Central Bank has done it. Now the Bank of England must decide whether to follow suit and opt for a bigger than usual rise in official borrowing costs when it meets on Thursday.

After edging rates up by a quarter-point at a time, the financial markets are betting that Threadneedle Street’s monetary policy committee (MPC) will announce a 0.5 percentage-point jump this time, something that has never happened since the Bank was granted independence in 1997.

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