The Bank of England is expected to raise interest rates to 3.5% today with a ninth consecutive hike.
The bank’s Monetary Policy Committee is due to meet later today, and is expected to announce a 50-basis-point rise from 3% to 3.5%.
Just a year ago interest rates were at a historic low of 0.1%.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has said the rise is needed to combat the “number one enemy”, inflation.
Inflation fell from its 41-year high of 11.1% in October to 10.7% last month owing to a slowdown in the growth of fuel prices, the latest Office for National Statistics figures show.
The markets are betting that the bank will return to smaller rate rises than the 0.75 percentage point rise it opted for last month, However, a number of economists say the bank should lift rates by the same amount again, raising the rate to 3.75%.
