prime interest rate
1
4.2
- noun
- /praɪm ˈɪntrəst reɪt/
- Specialized
:
tasa de interés preferencial
- "Examine what happens to an economy when the prime interest rate hits double digits."
Examples
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Many businesses rely on the prime interest rate to determine their loan terms.
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That might be accurate if Romney was anything close to Reagan, which he isn't, and it might be accurate if 52 hostages were being held in a Middle Eastern country, and it might be accurate if both inflation and the prime interest rate were 13 percent.
Blog text (3) -
The prime interest rate (i) for 1991 was 10.16 percent.
Academic text (1994) -
Any dummy who thinks inflation encourages employment need only examine what happens to an economy when the prime interest rate hits double digits and new investment essentially ceases; mortgages become unaffordable to anyone, and your prime plus one student loan looks like you just put your entire education on a credit card.
Blog text (3) -
The Fed lowered its prime interest rate to stimulate economic growth.
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A decrease in the prime interest rate can lead to more borrowing by companies.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The parts 'interest' + 'rate' transparently yield 'interest rate', and 'prime' signals a primary or preferential status, so learners can infer this refers to a special/preferential interest rate. However, the precise technical meaning — the specific lowest rate banks charge their most creditworthy commercial customers — is specialized and not fully predictable from the constituents alone, making the overall expression only partially transparent to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Prime interest rate comes from banks giving their most trusted customers the 'prime' or best 'price' to borrow money. So prime means 'best' and interest rate is the 'price' for a loan, and the phrase now means 'the lowest interest rate banks charge their most reliable customers'.