Interest rates slashed to 2%

The Bank of England has announced another aggressive rate cut, reducing the base rate from three to two per cent.

The move follows the 1.5 per cent cut announced on 6 November, meaning that rates have halved in one month and fallen to their lowest level since the Queen was crowned. The pound fell to $1.46 against the US dollar on the news.

Business owners have welcomed the move. Dan Scarfe, CEO of IT company Dot Net Solutions, says it will reduce his operating costs and encourage customers to spend more.

‘The main benefit for us [of the rate cut] is that it allows our customers easier access to funding to undertake capital expenditure programmes,’ says Scarfe.

The company is already seeing the benefit of last month’s rate cut, Scarfe adds: ‘Customers are starting to look at finance options they wouldn’t have considered beforehand, so it’s definitely starting to have an impact.’