The Bank of England unleashed its biggest interest rate hike since 1995 on Thursday and forecast inflation will top 13 percent later this year when the economy will enter a year-long recession.

The widely-expected half-percentage-point rate rise was the BoE's sixth straight increase since it began in December to tighten borrowing costs from a record-low level of just above zero, bringing them now to 1.75 percent.

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