What’s Next After UK Interest Rates Hit 15-Year High?

The popularity of short-term mortgage deals in the UK means the country’s homeowners are uniquely exposed to shifts in interest rates. This gives millions of Britons a personal interest in economic data and comments from central bankers that offer clues to future borrowing costs. Here’s a readout on why benchmark rates have reached their highest level in 15 years, where they may be headed next, and what it means for household finances.

Britain has the worst inflation problem in the Group of Seven nations, buffeted both by an energy crisis affecting all of Europe and a US-style workforce dropout rate. Despite warnings of a recession, a lack of workers to fill open jobs is forcing companies to bid up wages, feeding the upward spiral in prices that’s led the Bank of England to raise interest rates at the sharpest pace in over three decades.