A survey released by the Bank of England on Thursday shows that UK companies expect to increase prices and cut jobs in response to the increase in employer National Insurance contributions, which will take effect in April. The Bank of England's decision-makers surveyed over 2,000 companies, and the results indicated that due to the announcement of the National Insurance contribution increase in the budget on October 30 last year, 61% of companies expect profits to decline, 54% plan to raise prices, 53% expect a decrease in employment numbers, and 39% intend to reduce the pace of salary increases. The Bank of England stated that companies plan to increase salaries by 4.0% and raise prices by 3.8% over the next year, which is 0.1 percentage points higher than the survey in November.