UK Central Bank Maintains Base Rate at 0.1%... Continues Quantitative Easing

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jinyoung] The Bank of England (BOE), the central bank of the United Kingdom, has decided to keep the base interest rate unchanged while continuing its policy of expanding asset purchases.

The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) announced on the 17th that, following its regular meeting on the 16th (local time), it unanimously decided to maintain the base interest rate at the current 0.1%.

Earlier, the Bank of England had lowered interest rates in response to the economic shock caused by the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). On March 10, the MPC held a special meeting and sharply cut the base rate from 0.75% to 0.25%.

Then, on March 19, another special meeting was held, and the base rate was further reduced by 0.15 percentage points from 0.25% to 0.1%. The 0.1% rate is the lowest base interest rate in the history of the UK. At this regular MPC meeting, there was also unanimous agreement to keep this base rate unchanged.

The MPC also decided to continue expanding the balance of government bonds and other held securities to ?895 billion (approximately 1,327 trillion KRW).