Costly credit and a mortgage timebomb: five ways rising interest rates have hit the UK
by Richard Partington Economics correspondent from on (#6H0V2)
Two years on from the first in the Bank's run of rate hikes, how have they changed the shape of Britons' finances?
Two years ago, Britain's economy was entering an uncertain winter. The Omicron variant of Covid-19 was hitting businesses hard. Furlough had ended. Inflation was at a 10-year high of 5.1%.
Against this backdrop - two years ago this week - the Bank of England took its first tentative step to raise interest rates from 0.1% to 0.25%. A month earlier, the Bank had ducked a decision to raise rates given concerns over the end of the government's furlough scheme, wrong-footing financial markets. Few predicted how far Threadneedle Street would go next.
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