The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee today voted to maintain the official Bank Rate paid on commercial bank reserves at 0.5%. The Committee also voted to maintain the stock of asset purchases financed by the issuance of central bank reserves at £375 billion.
The Committee’s latest inflation and output projections will appear in the Inflation Report to be published at 10.30 on Wednesday 7 August. As previously announced, the Committee will also respond to the Chancellor’s request for its assessment of the use of thresholds and forward guidance at that time.
The minutes of the meeting will be published at 9.30am on Wednesday 14 August.
Notes to Editors
The Chancellor’s latest remit for the MPC, issued on 20 March 2013
The previous change in Bank Rate was a reduction of 0.5 percentage points to 0.5% on 5 March 2009. A programme of asset purchases financed by the issuance of central bank reserves was initiated on 5 March 2009. The previous change in the size of that programme was an increase of £50 billion to a total of £375 billion on 5 July 2012.
The Bank will continue to offer to purchase high-quality private sector assets on behalf of the Treasury, financed by the issue of Treasury bills, in line with the arrangements announced on 29 January 2009 and 29 November 2011.
In order to accommodate the Governor’s attendance at the G20 Summit on 5-6 September in St. Petersburg, the MPC’s policy meeting scheduled for 4-5 September will take place on 3-4 September. The decision will still be announced at the originally scheduled time of 12.00 on 5 September.
Press release