Impact of rate rise depends on mortgage

The ECB’s 0.25% rate rise will have a big impact on variable mortgage holders and investment mortgage holders, writes Frank Conway

THE quarter percent interest rate increase announced yesterday by the European Central Bank could hardly have come at a worse time for Ireland.

Our economy is nowhere near the level of growth that would justify a rate increase, but we are no longer masters of our own monetary policy and at roughly 1% of the eurozone population, inflation pressures in bigger economies must now dictate the pace of rate increases.