Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England
Some 43 per cent of consumers mistakenly think that interest rates have changed over the past year, according to the Bank of England.
The Bank surveyed almost 2,000 people for its inflation attitudes survey which is carried out every three months.
Some 23 per cent of people thought that interest rates had increased while 20 per cent of people thought rates had fallen, up from 14 per cent in February 2013.
Interest rates have remained at 0.5 per cent for a record duration of over four years since they were changed in March 2009.
Some 34 per cent of people expected rates to rise over the 12 months but only five per cent expected them to fall.
{desktop}{/desktop}{mobile}{/mobile}
While 35 per cent said they thought it would be better for the economy if interest rates stayed the same, the majority said it would be better for them personally for rates to go down.
Regarding inflation, respondents said the current inflation rate was currently at 4.5 per cent. This is almost double the actual rate from the Office for National Statistics which showed inflation was 2.4 per cent in April.
Over the next 12 months, consumers expected inflation to fall to 3.6 per cent and then fall to 3.3 per cent the year after that. However, when looking at five years time consumers expected inflation to increase again to 3.6 per cent.
• Want to receive a free weekly summary of the best news stories from our website? Just go to home page and submit your name and email address. If you are already logged in you will need to log out to see the e-newsletter sign up. You can then log in again.
