
As we all know, the last time the Bank of England did this to rates was in March 2009, at the height of the financial crisis. When Mark Carney became governor he very quickly suggested that the economy was recovering and that the Bank’s base would inevitably have to rise from its all-time low of 0.5 per cent.
In fact, soon after Mark Carney was appointed, the economy and employment picked up quicker than expected and he was forced to bring forward his predictions of when a rate rise would most likely happen. But, that was then, before we gave the maniacs the keys to the asylum and put them in charge of running it. It’s a just over a month since the referendum and, now we’ve had the lull, we’d better batten down for the storm ? because it’s here, and it has the potential to be pretty destructive.?And not just for politicians, bankers and big business either, this is going to hit real people extremely hard before it’s over. What’s more infuriating is that the experts were way more accurate than when hurricane-denier Michael Fish back in 1987, although the damage to the country will be felt just as acutely. As recently as August last year it was reported that we were “on the cusp” of a rate rise and a Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee member said such a rise would be a “sign of health” in the economy. He appeared on BBC?s Newsnight to say: “Within the UK economy consumer confidence is strong, corporate confidence is pretty strong and the financial system is operating near normal now.”Read more from Charlie Mullins:
- SME public sector contracts are too few and mired in red tape
- Entrepreneurs shouldn’t let risk out of their control define them
- We’re declaring war on antiquated prejudices holding back women
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