Family Building Society (FBS) has called for an end to Bank of England’s continued base rate increases.
Since March 2020, the Bank of England has raised interest rates 13 times, from a low of 0.10 % to 5.0% in June 2023.
It has been widely predicted to rise for a 14th time this week – with the market divided on whether this will be by 0.25 % or 0.5%.
Family Building Society questioned the wisdom of these piecemeal rises, every six weeks for a year and half, when bigger, bolder steps taken in 2021 and 2022 might have been more effective.
Mark Bogard, chief executive of Family Building Society, said: “I suspect that historians will look back at all these mini rate rises as an act of insanity.
“Once rates needed to rise, the steps should have been larger but fewer of them.
“Then they need time to see if they are achieving the desired result. What can you really learn every six weeks!?
“It’s like a brick being pulled across a desk with a piece of elastic.
“Suddenly, painfully, you get hit in the face.”
