If rates don’t go up this year, they may never rise again

The Bank of England had better take action soon, says Matthew Lynn – or near-zero interest rates will be here to stay.

It is unlikely anyone will bake a cake or throw a party. The only people celebrating are likely to be those who took out huge mortgages on tracker deals before the financial crash of 2008. But this week, near-zero interest rates marked their sixth birthday.

It was in March 2009 that the Bank of England cut rates to the lowest levels since it was founded in 1694. The decision was presented as an 'emergency measure' and at the time it certainly looked as if the economy was about to fall over a cliff.

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Matthew Lynn

Matthew Lynn is a columnist for Bloomberg, and writes weekly commentary syndicated in papers such as the Daily Telegraph, Die Welt, the Sydney Morning Herald, the South China Morning Post and the Miami Herald. He is also an associate editor of Spectator Business, and a regular contributor to The Spectator. Before that, he worked for the business section of the Sunday Times for ten years. 

He has written books on finance and financial topics, including Bust: Greece, The Euro and The Sovereign Debt Crisis and The Long Depression: The Slump of 2008 to 2031. Matthew is also the author of the Death Force series of military thrillers and the founder of Lume Books, an independent publisher.