Breaking: Bank of England raises interest rate

Breaking: Bank of England raises interest rate.

BREAKING NEWS – The Bank of England raises interest rate from 0.1 per cent to 0.25 per cent, in an announcement made on Thursday, December 16.

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted by a majority of 8-1 to increase bank rate to 0.25 per cent and unanimously voted for the Bank of England to maintain the stock of sterling non-financial investment-grade corporate bond purchases, financed by the issuance of central bank reserves, at £20 billion.

The Committee also voted by a majority of 9-0 to maintain the stock of UK government bond purchases, financed by the issuance of central bank reserves, at £875 billion, and so the total target stock of asset purchases at £895 billion.

The Monetary Policy Committee voted by a majority of 8-1 to increase #BankRate to 0.25% and by a majority of 9-0 to maintain the amount of quantitative easing at £895bn. https://t.co/8N5Szd2mD3 pic.twitter.com/b7rsd11fi8

— Bank of England (@bankofengland) December 16, 2021

The pre-Christmas interest rate hike comes after officials found themselves under increased pressure to act to curb “cost of living” increases.

However, today’s news comes as a surprise as calls for a hike were dying down due to the arrival of the Omicron variant and fears over its likely economic impact.

Some are calling the announcement a “shock” as the BOE hikes rates to curb inflation during a critical time.

Even the BOE, back in November, acknowledged the variant, stating that it appears to be spreading rapidly within the United Kingdom and around the world.

“The new variant appears to be much more transmissible than the Delta variant and, on the basis of current knowledge, poses new risks to public health.

“Global risky asset prices fell in response to this news but have since largely recovered. Longer-term advanced-economy government bond yields have declined.”

This is a breaking news story, please check back for any further updates.

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