Читать книгу Money: A User’s Guide - Laura Whateley - Страница 46

The base rate is the national interest rate set by the Bank of England, and it is to the base rate that high-street banks and building societies peg their mortgage rates (as well as their savings rates, see chapter 5).

Following the Crash, the base rate was cut to a historic low of just 0.5 per cent, where it stayed until 2016, when it fell even further to 0.25 per cent. Low interest rates can help to revive the economy, they are good for businesses – borrowing is cheaper – and should make citizens spend rather than save. It is rising at the moment slightly, but is still at record lows. Young first-time buyers have never known anything other than cheap interest rates on mortgages, but it may not always be this way. In 1990, the base rate was nearly 15 per cent, in 1980 it was 17 per cent.