BOE continue to hold interest rates at 0.5%
4 June 2009
The Bank of England left interest rates steady at 0.5 percent and said it was on track to complete 125 billion pounds of quantitative easing by August. However, economists expect it may have to do even more to lift Britain's economy out of recession. The decision to continue with QE and keep interest rates at a record low of 0.5 percent for a third month running was widely expected after the Bank expanded its flagship programme of asset purchases by 50 billion pounds only last month.
The Monetary Policy Committee did not say much, issuing a terse statement saying it was continuing with purchases of gilts, commercial paper and corporate bonds with newly-minted money as before and would keep the scale under review.