Finance experts explain what the new UK interest rates mean for investors.
Bad News For Investors
The Bank of England’s decision to further raise interest rates from 1.25% to 1.75% and its two-year predictions means bad news for investors and UK residents alike. Top market analysts expect this to further rise to 2.25% in September. Other than adjusting the interest rates to the accurate level to keep abreast of import inflation, the economic projections for the UK paint a bleak outlook for the next two years.
The Bank explained that the rise in interest rates was necessary due to external pressures which are expected to persist. This means that British firms and residents will continue to feel this weight reflected in rising domestic prices, wages outpaced by soaring inflation, and even higher mortgage repayments, despite the Bank’s attempt to widen the borrowing pool through less restrictive mortgage rules.
Although historic, the Bank’s decision was not a surprise for trading analysts at CMC Markets, a London-headquartered financial services company, who believe the Bank was expected to raise interest rates higher than 1.25% during the June meeting, as a means to keep import inflation in check. This is on the backdrop of a 10% year-to-date depreciation of the British pound sterling against the US dollar and an indication from the Federal Reserve, the US central bank, of a further interest rate increase by 0.5% or 0.75% in September.
What Does This Mean For The Exchange Rate?
The value of the euro against the British pound sterling is set to remain under pressure, whereas the ‘cable’ GBP/USD forex pair is likely to maintain the current uptrend. Meanwhile, the yield on a 10-year government bond, or gilt, fell by 0.09% to 1.83%. Michael Hewson, Chief Market Analyst at CMC Market comments: “The Thursday announcement from the Bank of England has all the signs of a dovish reaction. It has sent the pound sharply lower across the board, with the potential to test key support levels at 1.1980 against the US dollar and 0.8480 against the euro.”
Hewson further explains what this means to investors: “The UK currently fares worse than both the EU and the US. This is due to its closer dependence on energy shocks than the States and less government intervention to soften the blow compared to its European counterparts. Government bonds in all three markets all rose in prices on Thursday.”
Future Recession
The UK is projected to enter a recession in the final quarter of this year, the Bank of England announced. The country’s economy will contract by 1.25% in 2023 and 0.25% in 2024, however, inflation is becoming a much bigger long-term threat, with unrealistic chances of falling back to the desired 2% much before 2024.
As it stands with the current measures, inflation is expected to peak at 13.3% in October – a sharper increase than the Bank expected in June, originally estimated at 11%. It will continue to rise throughout 2023 only to decline in 2024.
Meanwhile, forecasts for the Consumer Price Index (CPI) are less optimistic now, expected to decrease only to 9.5% in the third quarter of 2023, although the Bank anticipates a sharp fall in prices immediately thereafter.
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