Borrowing rates and the exchange rate  -4-  Increases in the policy rate have raised borrowing rates for households and businesses (Chart 1). The average five-year variable mortgage rate rose from 1.5% to 5.9% between January 2022 and January 2023, and the average fiveyear fixed mortgage rate rose from 2.8% to 5.1% over the same period.
The prime rate, which is a benchmark for business loans, rose from 2.5% to 6.5%, and longer-term corporate borrowing rates are up about 2 percentage points.