london dec 16 reuters  bank of england governor andrew bailey said the british central bank had been compelled to raise interest rates on thursday even as the omicron variant of the coronavirus hits the economy because inflation pressures were turning more persistent weve seen evidence of a very tight labour market and were seeing more persistent inflation pressures and thats what we have to act on bailey told bbc television were concerned about inflation in the medium term and were seeing things now that can threaten that so thats why we have to act earlier the boe raised its benchmark bank rate to 025 from its pandemic emergency low of 01 bailey said omicron could certainly have quite an effect on activity in the economy and there were already signs of impact on footfall among retailers and bookings at restaurants its not however clear whether it will cause inflation pressure to come down or even go up and thats a very important factor for us he said