London | The Bank of England and the European Central Bank have joined the US Federal Reserve in jacking up their benchmark interest rate by 0.5 percentage points, even as signs emerge that inflation may be starting to cool.

Both central banks stepped back from their previous bigger increases of 0.75 percentage points, but each warned that they were primed to keep pushing up interest rates in the new year – with the ECB in particular looking to send a hawkish message.