BRITAIN'S Chancellor of the Exchequer Mr Kenneth Clarke will have pressure heaped on him to raise interest rates in the months ahead if the minutes from his October 30th meeting with Bank of England Governor Mr Eddie George are anything to go by.

That expectation pushed sterling up to its highest level against the German currency since 1992, at DM2.6016. The Irish currency closed at 99.25p.

The interest rate meeting resulted in both agreeing to raise base rates by a quarter point to 6 per cent a surprise to many. But even then, Mr George was warning one rate rise was unlikely to be enough to quell resurgent inflationary pressures.

The government has a medium term target of 2.5 per cent for underlying inflation, which has stuck stubbornly at 3.3 per cent year on year for the past two months.