The Bank of England has raised interest rates by half a percentage point to 5% — the highest level in 15 years.
It’s the 13th consecutive increase as part of the central bank’s ongoing effort to tackle persistently high inflation.
The jump from 4.5% to 5% is a bigger increase than many analysts had been expecting. According to BBC News, it means that homeowners with a typical tracker mortgage will pay about £47 more each month, while those with a standard variable rate mortgage will see their monthly bill go up by around £30.
It comes after data on Wednesday showed that UK inflation remained unchanged at 8.7% in the year to May.
Members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted by 7-2 to increase Bank Rate by 0.5 percentage points.
Announcing the decision, the Bank of England said that the full impact of the rate rise will not be felt “for some time” because many people are on fixed-rate mortgages.
