Australian interest rates are up, but don't expect Britain's to follow

Australia became the first of the G20 nations to raise interest rates yesterday. But don't expect the Bank of England to follow suit any time soon.

Australia became the first of the G20 nations to raise interest rates yesterday, having previously slashed them to prevent economic meltdown. The country moved its reserve rate from a 49-year low of 3% to 3.25% - amid "evidence the recovery is gaining momentum", said Daniel Hauk on Bloomberg.

The move took the markets by surprise (even although it was heavily flagged in the local press earlier this week so much for market efficiency). The excitement at this very visible sign of recovery helped drive markets higher across the board.

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Tim graduated with a history degree from Cambridge University in 1989 and, after a year of travelling, joined the financial services firm Ernst and Young in 1990, qualifying as a chartered accountant in 1994.

He then moved into financial markets training, designing and running a variety of courses at graduate level and beyond for a range of organisations including the Securities and Investment Institute and UBS. He joined MoneyWeek in 2007.