Bank of England boosts quantitative easing by £100bn and holds base rate

by Aaron Strutt

Jun 18 2020

The Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee has voted to keep the base rate on hold and increase quantitative easing by £100bn. 

MPC members voted unanimously to maintain base rate at 0.1 per cent and by a majority of 8-1 for the Bank to increase the target for QE asset purchases by an additional £100bn to £745bn. 

Santander UK chief economist Frances Haque, was quoted as saying: “Although comments have been made in recent weeks by MPC members on the possible move to negative interest rates, making it clear that this is currently under review, any move will need to be accompanied by additional forward guidance. 

“However, given the current state of the UK economy and how it will be able to recover from the restrictions of lockdown, there continues to be a significant possibility of further rate cuts as we move through the rest of 2020, if the economic data remains bleak.”