The biggest hike in interest rates for more than three decades is expected to be announced by the Bank of England today.

Interest rates are likely to increase by 0.75 percentage points from 1.75% to 2.5% when the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meet today.

It would be the highest interest rate that the UK has had since the financial crisis. In December 2008, the base rate was slashed from 3% to 2%.

It would also be the highest single increase to interest rates since 1989.

“Investors think the most likely outcome is that the MPC will increase the Bank rate by 75bp (0.75 percentage points) on Thursday,” said Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

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But he said that economists are expecting a smaller rise, to 2.25% – the same 0.5 percentage point change as the Bank’s last hike.

ING economist James Smith said that the Bank of England will have to react to recent falls in the price of the pound. Sterling hit a new 37-year low against the dollar on Friday.

“The Bank of England meeting is crucial,” he said.

“It will tell us not only how worried policymakers are about the slide in sterling and other UK markets, but also how the Government’s decision to cap household/business energy prices will translate into monetary policy.

“We narrowly favour a 50bp hike on Thursday, taking the Bank Rate to 2.25%, although 75bp is clearly on the table and we would expect at least a couple of policymakers to vote for it.”

He said that rates will likely rise again in November and December, hitting 3% by the end of the year.

The decision to hike interest rates is a bid to keep inflation under control. It is the best tool that the Bank of England has to steer inflation – currently at 9.9% – back to its 2% target.

But the decisions will also have major impacts on people’s finances, not least those with mortgages who will need to start paying more for their home loans.