borrow

The central bank last raised interest rates to 0.5% from 0.25% in January, bringing borrowing costs to their highest level in 17 years.

That’s when investors borrow money in Japanese Yen, which has lower interest rates than other currencies, before converting it into another currency to buy potentially high-yielding assets such as cryptocurrencies.

Silver lease rates—the cost of borrowing the physical metal—rose significantly this year.

Other kinds of companies that borrow a lot, such as utilities, are also having to invest to feed the chips’ various energy needs.

Bets on a cut surged in late November after several of the bank's policymakers said they backed lower borrowing costs as they were more concerned about the flagging labour market than stubbornly high inflation.