Siobhan Schoonhoff-Reilly (asker) Apr 13, 2008:

Thanks Kitty. I too had found this, but thank you for taking the time and effort to find and add this information. Once Jarry provided the translation, I was then able to google it and find out exactly what it means.

Kitty Brussaard Apr 11, 2008:

To 'unboggle' your mind, here's a useful explanation (Wikipedia):
In the case of interest rates, it is a common practice to state the percent change differently. If an interest rate rises from 10% to 15%, for example, it is typical to say, "The interest rate increased by 5%" — rather than by 50%, which would be correct when measured as a percentage of the initial rate (i.e., from 0.10 to 0.15 is an increase of 50%). Such ambiguity can be avoided by using the term "percentage points". In the previous example, the interest rate "increased by 5 percentage points" from 10% to 15%. If the rate then drops by 5 percentage points, it will return to the initial rate of 10%, as expected.