For arrangements lasting two and five years, the UK’s borrowing costs have increased.
As a result, borrowing costs for the government will be higher than for Italy and Greece.
The UK does still have a cheaper rate for 10-year borrowing.
Professor Sir Charlie Bean, the former deputy governor of the Bank of England for monetary policy told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It now costs the UK government more to borrow than Italy or Greece, who we have traditionally thought of as being not quite basket cases, but certainly weaker-performing sovereign entities.”
Sir Charlie added the Bank was “rightly reluctant to have emergency meetings”, but added: “I think on this occasion if I had still been at the Bank in my role as deputy governor, I certainly would have been counseling the governor that I think this is one of the occasions where it might have made sense.”
Asked about the economic turmoil this could cause, he said: “The key thing is, if you call it, you have to take significant action.”
“The lesson is you go big, and you go fast,” he added.