Bank of England set to spoil the festive mood with another interest rate rise

The Bank is likely to raise borrowing costs again this week - but how much longer can they keep going up?

Bank of England officials are expected to take their foot off the accelerator when they meet this week to decide by how much the cost of borrowing should increase.

The prospect of a year-long recession that will hit living standards, cut business investment and damage the long-term productive capacity of the British economy might have made them think twice about any increase at all, but the betting in the financial markets is that a 0.5-percentage-point rise on Thursday looks certain.