The Bank of England is to maintain its interest rate at 0.5% in April, though the situation may well change the month following.
Inflation is currently well over target - over 4% in February. With the UK economy apparently showing signs of recovery, some monetary experts believe Mervyn King's Monetary Policy Committee will vote to raise the rate next month, though others predict a delay until August.
Tougher times are predicted for the euro zone as the interest rate rose from 1% to 1.25%, following action by the European Central Bank which had kept the earlier rate for all but three years. The euro zone is of course, a single currency area throughout with a 'one hat fits all' interest rate, whatever the various local economies might require, even those member countries still struggling with debt crises and high unemployment.
The increase isn't itself too drastic to hold back growth by any major amount but it may lead to an increasingly two-speed recovery which is likely to be a challenge for the bank as it decides how high rates should go in coming months.
