asked the Minister for the Environment if, in view of the recent steep increases in interest rates and the difficulties and anxieties that this is creating, he will re-introduce the fixed interest element for council loans; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - Council Loans.
102.
I have no such proposals. Current developments notwithstanding, I consider that house purchasers are generally in the long term better served by the continuation of the variable interest rate especially having regard to the Government's policy of keeping interest rates in the economy as low as possible. In the past many who had to borrow, when rates were high at rates fixed for the life of the loan were at a disadvantage when rates declined and the re-introduction of fixed rate mortgages at the present time could give rise to the same situation in future.