Bank of England hikes rates to 13-yr high, warns of rising recession risk

The Bank of England sent a stark warning that Britain risks a double-whammy of a recession and inflation above 10 per cent as it raised interest rates on Thursday to their highest since 2009, hiking by quarter of a percentage point to 1 per cent.

The pound fell by more than a cent against the US dollar to hit its lowest level since mid-2020, below $1.24, as the gloominess of the BoE’s new forecasts for the world’s fifth-largest economy caught investors by surprise.

They also trimmed bets on the central bank hiking rates aggressively this year. Short-dated British government bond yields slid