The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has voted to maintain the Bank Rate at 0.5% and the size of the Asset Purchase Programme (so-called quantitative easing) at £375 billion.
The MPC voted by a majority of 8-1 to maintain the Bank Rate and unanimously over quantitative easing. Once again Ian McCafferty preferred to increase the Bank Rate by 25 basis points.
The Bank said that all MPC members agreed that, given the likely persistence of the headwinds weighing on the economy, when the Bank Rate does begin to rise, it is expected to do so only gradually and to a level lower than in recent cycles. This guidance is an expectation, not a promise. The actual path that Bank Rate will follow over the next few years will depend on the economic circumstances, it noted.
