Dictionary of English - per cent or percentage point

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When the Chancellor announces that he has reduced the bank rate by one per cent, he usually means that he has reduced it by one percentage point. If the bank rate was ten per cent, a fall of one per cent would be a fall of one per cent (one hundredth) of ten per cent, and the new bank rate would be 9.99%.

A percentage point is a unit expressing the difference between two percentages; a fall of one percentage point would be a fall from ten to nine per cent. In American English per cent is spelt as one word, percent.

Yellow represents the golden land of South America. Blue stands for the ocean separating the country from Spain. Red symbolizes the blood and courage of the people resisting the tyrants. Effective date: 26 November 1861. >>