The phrase "a benchmark rate" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used in financial contexts to refer to a standard or reference point against which other rates or performance can be measured.
Example: "The central bank set a benchmark rate to guide lending and borrowing in the economy."
Alternatives: "a reference rate" or "a standard rate."
The 10-year yield acts as a benchmark rate for most mortgage loans.
The repayments would be set against a benchmark rate equal to that of a conventional student loan.
At a benchmark rate of 0.5percentt, most funds would be in that position, and some companies would probably leave the business.
The central bank raised a benchmark rate known as the call rate, or the interest on one-day loans among financial institutions, from 5percentto5.25percentcent.
But problems lingered in the short-term financing markets, with a benchmark rate for overnight lending between banks remaining near its highest level since 1999.
"This was insolent conduct impacting a benchmark rate that influences almost anything consumers buy on credit," a commodity commission member, Bart Chilton, said on Wednesday.
The interest rate on export finance loans to India, to take but one example, has gone from a fraction above Libor, a floating benchmark rate set in London, to about 5.5 percentage points higher.
The rate is a global benchmark rate used to help set a range of financial instruments, such as business loans, mortgages and student loans.
Barclays agreed last year to a $450 million settlement with American and British authorities over the manipulation of the London interbank offered rate, or Libor, a crucial benchmark rate.
This cash crunch or "Shibor shock" (Shibor stands for Shanghai Interbank Offered Rate, a benchmark interest rate) raised immediate fears of bank defaults.
The attempts to rig LIBOR (the London inter-bank offered rate), a benchmark interest rate, not only betray a culture of casual dishonesty; they set the stage for lawsuits and more regulation right the way round the globe.
