Bank of England raises interest rate

The Bank of England raised interest rates from 0.5 percent to 0.75 percent on March 17, underlining its resolve to fight soaring inflation which is now expected to hit 8 percent by the end of June, Report informs referring to Financial Times.

The quarter-point rise - the third back-to-back increase since December - has returned interest rates to their pre-Covid level and places the BoE at the forefront of a global move to tighten monetary policy, following this week’s increase by the US Federal Reserve.

It now expects inflation to rise to around 8 percent in the second quarter of 2022 - around 1 percentage point higher than its February forecasts showed - and potentially climb even higher in October, when regulated energy prices are set to rise again.

As of March 16, 2022, and following the maturity of the March 2022 gilt previously held by the Asset Purchase Facility (APF), the total stock of assets held in the APF was £867 billion, comprising £847 billion of UK government bond purchases and £20 billion of sterling non-financial investment-grade corporate bond purchases, according to the bank’s website.