Bank of England maintains record low bank rate

Bank of England maintains record low bank rate

2010-12-09 19:09:53 GMT+7 (ICT)

LONDON (BNO NEWS) -- The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee on Thursday voted to maintain the official bank rate paid on commercial bank reserves at 0.5 percent, a record low.

The Committee also voted to maintain the stock of asset purchases financed by the issuance of central bank reserves at £200 billion ($303.34 billion).

The last change in the bank rate was a reduction of 0.5 percentage points on March 5, 2009, when a program of asset purchases financed by the issuance of central bank reserves was initiated. The most recent change in the size of that program was an increase of £25 billion ($40.3 billion) to a total of £200 billion ($322.6 billion) on November 5, 2009.

Recent data about the British economy is also indicating that the Bank of England will delay injecting more money into the economy through its QE program, which is also known as printing money. It is a process in which the Treasury injects funds into the financial system to ease pressure on banks by giving them extra capital.

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