The Bank of England has raised its key interest rate for the third time since December last year as it pushes ahead faster than other central banks in tackling a global wave of inflation caused by soaring energy prices.
The bank boosted its key rate to 0.75 per cent after Russia’s all-out war in Ukraine pushed oil prices to a 13-year high earlier this month.
The European Central Bank left its rates unchanged last week but announced an early exit from its economic stimulus efforts in a bid to combat record inflation in the 19 countries that use the euro.
The Bank of England says the war in Ukraine is likely to accentuate both the peak in inflation and the adverse impact on activity by intensifying the squeeze on household incomes.