Bank of England holds stimulus, record-low rate

The Bank of England on Thursday announced that it will retain its stimulus package and record-low interest rate. In the same breath, the apex bank warned that the United Kingdom’s annual inflation rate could climb beyond four percent this year.

The nine members of BoE ‘s monetary policy committee (MPC) voted unanimously to keep its key borrowing cost at 0.1 percent, a release indicated. 

The votes by the policymakers also skewed 7-2 in favor of continuing its so-called quantitative easing stimulus, which currently stands at £900 billion (US$1.2 trillion, 1.0 trillion euros).

This resolution comes amid moves by central banks across the globe to schedule the “perfect time and manner” for the reversal of their various super-loose monetary policies and the reform of their super-high stimulus packages, especially as economies begin to bounce back from the effects of the pandemic.

The news also comes a day after the Federal Reserve announced that it would soon begin tapering its own emergency aid.

“Two (MPC) members preferred to stop the current asset purchase program as soon as practical after this meeting rather than continuing it until around the end of the year, as currently planned,” the BoE said.