LONDON: The Bank of England on Thursday kept its main interest rate at a record low 0.50 per cent and decided to maintain the amount of special funds used to help stimulate Britain's recession-affected economy.
"The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee today voted to maintain the official Bank Rate paid on commercial bank reserves at 0.5 per cent," it said in a brief statement issued following the BoE's latest monthly policy meeting.
It added that its amount of Quantitative Easing (QE) stimulus would stay at £375 billion ($597 billion, 473 billion euros).
The central bank had been widely expected to keep its policy unchanged as it monitors the impact of July's decision to ramp up QE funds by an extra £50 billion by November to also ward off contagion from the debt crisis in the eurozone, of which Britain is not a member.
Also Thursday, the European Central Bank decided to leave its main refinancing rate at a historic low of 0.75 per cent, as it mulls other ways to combat the eurozone debt crisis.
All eyes were now turned to ECB President Mario Draghi's regular news conference, with financial markets hoping that he would unveil the details of a new bond-buying programme to help crisis-wracked eurozone countries.
Minutes of the Bank of England's latest two-day meeting, to be published on September 19, were meanwhile set to provide the reasons behind its own decisions taken Thursday.
The BoE's Monetary Policy Committee had pumped up the British economy with hundreds of billions of pounds under its QE stimulus policy since March 2009, when it also slashed its key rate to the current all-time low.
Under QE, the BoE creates new cash to purchase assets such as government and corporate bonds with the aim of boosting lending and economic output.
Recent official data showed that Britain's gross domestic product ( GDP) shrank 0.5 per cent between April and June compared with the first quarter, deepening the country's recession that began in late 2011.
On Thursday, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said Britain's economy was expected to contract by 0.7 per cent this year, after previously forecasting growth of 0.5 per cent.
The BoE's main task is meanwhile to use monetary policy as a tool to keep annual inflation close to a government-set target of 2.0 per cent. British 12-month inflation rose unexpectedly to 2.6 per cent in July from 2.4 per cent in June, which had been the lowest point since November 2009.
indiatimes.com
"The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee today voted to maintain the official Bank Rate paid on commercial bank reserves at 0.5 per cent," it said in a brief statement issued following the BoE's latest monthly policy meeting.
It added that its amount of Quantitative Easing (QE) stimulus would stay at £375 billion ($597 billion, 473 billion euros).
The central bank had been widely expected to keep its policy unchanged as it monitors the impact of July's decision to ramp up QE funds by an extra £50 billion by November to also ward off contagion from the debt crisis in the eurozone, of which Britain is not a member.
Also Thursday, the European Central Bank decided to leave its main refinancing rate at a historic low of 0.75 per cent, as it mulls other ways to combat the eurozone debt crisis.
All eyes were now turned to ECB President Mario Draghi's regular news conference, with financial markets hoping that he would unveil the details of a new bond-buying programme to help crisis-wracked eurozone countries.
Minutes of the Bank of England's latest two-day meeting, to be published on September 19, were meanwhile set to provide the reasons behind its own decisions taken Thursday.
The BoE's Monetary Policy Committee had pumped up the British economy with hundreds of billions of pounds under its QE stimulus policy since March 2009, when it also slashed its key rate to the current all-time low.
Under QE, the BoE creates new cash to purchase assets such as government and corporate bonds with the aim of boosting lending and economic output.
Recent official data showed that Britain's gross domestic product ( GDP) shrank 0.5 per cent between April and June compared with the first quarter, deepening the country's recession that began in late 2011.
On Thursday, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said Britain's economy was expected to contract by 0.7 per cent this year, after previously forecasting growth of 0.5 per cent.
The BoE's main task is meanwhile to use monetary policy as a tool to keep annual inflation close to a government-set target of 2.0 per cent. British 12-month inflation rose unexpectedly to 2.6 per cent in July from 2.4 per cent in June, which had been the lowest point since November 2009.
indiatimes.com
No comments:
Post a Comment