The Bank of England voted unanimously on Thursday to keep the UK's main interest rate at a record low of 0.25%, and anticipated that the next rate move could be in either direction. The last change was a rate cut in August, in the wake of the UK's vote to leave the EU.
The Bank of England has raised its near-term growth and inflation forecasts on Thursday following the slide in sterling seen since the U.K.'s decision to leave the European Union. The bank decided Thursday to keep interest rates at the record low level of 0.25% and maintan its quantitative easing (QE) purchase targets at up to £10 billion for corporate bonds and £435 billion for U.K. government bonds.
Bank of England governor Mark Carney says he will step down in June 2019. It means he will serve one additional year beyond the five-year term he committed to when he took the post, but will still be two years short of the usual eight years governors serve.
The Bank of England said on Thursday it was still likely to cut interest rates to just above zero later this year, even though the initial Brexit hit to Britain's economy would be less severe than it expected only last month. The Bank said its nine rate-setters were unanimous in their decision to keep Bank Rate at its new record low of 0.25%, the lowest in the BoE's 322-year history.
A senior German lawmaker, an adviser to the French prime minister and a former deputy head of the Bank of England have proposed that a post-Brexit Britain form a new continental partnership with the EU.
The Bank of England has unveiled a series of stimulus measures in the wake of Brexit, including its first interest rate cut since the global financial crisis (2009), as it tries to jumpstart an economy shocked by Britain’s vote to leave the European Union.
The Bank of England has warned that uncertainty about the EU referendum is the largest immediate risk facing global financial markets. The bank said there were risks of adverse spillovers to the global economy from the 23 June vote and it was increasingly likely that sterling would fall further - perhaps sharply - in the event of a leave vote, the Bank added.
The Bank of England has given its starkest warning yet that a UK vote to leave the EU could hit the economy. Mark Carney, the Bank's governor, warned that the risks of leaving could possibly include a technical recession.
It is the Bank's duty to talk about the European Union referendum risks, argues the Bank of England governor Mark Carney, dismissing accusations the Bank is too political. The referendum takes place on 23 June and has become highly controversial.
Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Chartered were the weakest of Britain's seven largest lenders in a Bank of England stress test. For the second year, the central bank has subjected the UK's biggest lenders to tests to measure whether they would survive a financial shock.