News in Review Wednesday 9th February 2022
Financial announcements came thick and fast last week, impacting household budgets and living standards for millions across the UK. As anticipated by many economic commentators, on Thursday the Monetary Policy Committee voted to increase Bank Rate from 0.25% to 0.5%, in an effort to dampen the pace of price rises over the longer term. Despite this move, the Bank of England (BoE) still expects inflation could reach 7.25% in April when energy bills are set to rise. This would be the fastest price growth since 1991 and is well above the Bank’s 2% target.
