The Bank of England is tipped to raise interest rates by at least 0.5 per cent this week, but the pound fell to a 37-year low last week – reaching $1.351, a level not seen since 1985.
That comes against a backdrop of inflation edging down slightly to 9.9 per cent – taking Britain out of the double-digit inflation club – with a colossal rescue plan to save households and businesses from spiralling energy prices about to kick in.
The details on that energy price guarantee rushed out by new Prime Minister Liz Truss – and how it’s potential £150billion cost will be paid for – are still sparse, but are expected to be sketched out in more detail this week.
Meanwhile, on Friday a mini-Budget is due to arrive with a rumoured round of tax cuts as Truss and her new Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng go all out for growth.
On this podcast episode, Georgie Frost, Helen Crane and Simon Lambert look at the pound, energy bills, inflation and interest rates, how all these issues connect and what could happen next?
Also on the agenda for discussion are rising savings rates and whether savers should fix or stick with short-term easy access deals, and a question over a life-changing £500,000 early inheritance and where the balance lies between saving, paying off the mortgage or investing.
And finally, overshadowing all the financial events of a whirlwind fortnight, Queen Elizabeth II died, ending her 70 year reign, and ushering in a period of national mourning that came to a close under the eyes of the entire world with her funeral.
But what will happen now to Britain’s money and when will we start to see King Charles III on our cash?
Inflation dipped back below double digits to 9.9% in August and Liz Truss’s energy price guarantee rescue should drag it down further, but interest rates are still expected to be hiked
