Bank of England raises policy rate by 50 basis points to 3.5%

The Bank of England on Thursday increased its policy rate by 0.5 percentage points to 3.5%.

In order to lower the inflation rate to the 2% target, the bank increased the rate for the ninth consecutive time since December 2021, when the rate was raised to 0.25% from 0.1%.

It said that the inflation was expected to fall sharply as of mid-2023.

"The risks around that declining path for inflation were judged to be to the upside," the bank said.

It also forecast that the British economy will be narrowed by 0.1% in the last quarter of 2022.