FOUR budding economists from Holmes Chapel Sixth Form College are taking on a national competition.

Economics students are taking on the Bank of England Monetary Committee in the national Target Two Point Zero which gives students aged 16 to 18 the chance to make recommendations to the bank’s policy committee.

Matthew Henson, Sam Ashcroft, Callum Mackenzie and Dan Cartwright all aged 17, have been supported by their economics teacher, Karen Griffin.

Karen said: “We are delighted that our application to take part was successful. The competition is in it’s 17th year and this is the first time that competitors from our Sixth Form have had the opportunity to take part. Taking part exposes students to new confidence-building skills such as making presentations, public speaking, working as a team and requires a high level of commitment, enthusiasm and professionalism from all the students”.

The objective of the Interest Rate Challenge is for each team to make a presentation that sets out their view on current economic conditions and future prospects, culminating in a policy recommendation aimed at meeting the inflation target which is currently two per cent.

The teams will present their analysis and monetary policy decisions to a panel of judges.

The debate involves the team having to make difficult judgements about the course of the economy and the outlook for inflation, just like the real Monetary Policy Committee.