Monetary Policy Committee meeting, Bank of England 22/9/2022 Monetary Policy Committee meeting, Bank of England. 22nd September 2022 Bank Rate increased by a further 0.5%.      Although there was a slowdown in the rate of increase of consumer pirces in August, the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee voted to increase the Bank Rate by a further 0.5% at its meeting on 22nd September. The vote was not unanimous. Three members wanted a bigger increase – 0.75% – while one would have preferred a more modest 0.25% hike. The Bank Rate has now been raised at each of the last…

Monetary Policy Committee meeting, Bank of England 4/8/2022   Monetary Policy Committee meeting, Bank of England, 4th August 2022 Sixth increase in the Bank Rate – this time by 0.5%      The 0.5% increase in the Bank Rate announced by the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England was widely anticipated. The last six meetings of the MPC have each concluded with an announcement of higher borrowing costs, which have now risen by 1.75% in total in the space of eight months.   It was the sixth consecutive announcement of a rate rise following an MPC meeting.…

Monetary Policy Committee meeting, Bank of England 24/6/2021 Monetary Policy Committee meeting, Bank of England. 24th June 2021 No interest rate rises yet and asset purchases continue.    The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee voted unanimously to keep interest rates at 0.1%, but once again, there was one dissenting voice in the vote to continue with its existing programme of UK government bond purchases, financed by the issuance of central bank reserves.  The statement following the MPC meeting acknowledged that inflation had risen above the Band of England’s 2% target for the first time since the start of the coronavirus…

Monetary Policy Committee meeting, Bank of England 16/06/2022 Monetary Policy Committee meeting, Bank of England, 16th June 2022 Fifth increase in the Bank Rate      On 16th June, only a day after the US Federal Reserve raised the Fed Funds Rate by 0.75%, the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England voted by 6 to 3 to raise the Bank Rate by a further 0.25% to 1.25%. This was the fifth consecutive announcement of a rate rise following an MPC meeting. In a repeat of the voting pattern in May’s meeting, the three dissenters wanted a larger (0.5%) increase.…

Monetary Policy Committee meeting, Bank of England 5/5/2022 Monetary Policy Committee meeting, Bank of England, 5th May 2022 Fourth increase in the Bank Rate      On 5th May, the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England voted by 6 to 3 to raise the Bank Rate by a further 0.25% to 1%. This was the fourth consecutive announcement of a rate rise following an MPC meeting. Significantly, the three dissenters voted for a full 0.5% increase. Interest rates are now at their highest level since February 2009 and the statement issued after the meeting suggests that further rises may…

Monetary Policy Committee meeting, Bank of England 17/3/2022 Monetary Policy Committee meeting, Bank of England, 17th March 2022 Bank of England raises bank rates for the third time in a row      On 17th March, the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England voted by 8 to 1 to raise the Bank Rate by 0.25% to 0.75%. This was the third consecutive announcement of a rate rise following an MPC meeting. Interest rates are now at their highest level since the Global Financial Crisis of 2008-9, when rates were cut from 5% to 0.5%. The press release following the…

Monetary Policy Committee meeting, Bank of England 16/12/2021 Monetary Policy Committee meeting, Bank of England, 16th December 2021. Bank of England raises base rates    After raising expectations of that it would tighten monetary policy at its November 4th meeting but then doing nothing, the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee finally voted by 8 to 1 at its meeting on 16th December to raise base rates from 0.1% to 0.25%. The reasons why lone dissenter Silvana Tenreyro voted against a rate rise were concerns about the effect of the Omicron variant on the economy and also a lack of conviction…

Monetary Policy Committee meeting, Bank of England 4/11/2021 Monetary Policy Committee meeting, Bank of England, 4th November 2021 Bank of England surprises markets by doing nothing.    On 17th October, Andrew Bailey, the Governor of the Bank of England, stated that in response to the recent surge in energy prices the bank “will have to act and must do so” because of the “risk, particularly to medium-term inflation and medium-term inflation expectations” These comments were widely interpreted as implying that monetary policy was to be tightened at the next meeting of the BoE’s Monetary Policy Committee on 4th November. It therefore…

Monetary Policy Committee meeting, Bank of England 23/9/2021 Monetary Policy Committee meeting, Bank of England, 23rd September 2021 Still no date for tapering of bond purchases in spite of rising inflation. The latest meeting of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee saw a unanimous vote to maintain interest rates at the record low of 0.1%, but the  opposition to the continuation of government bond purchases has strengthened, with the vote being 7-2 in favour compared to 8-1 on 6th August. Since that meeting, the annual rate UK consumer price inflation has risen from 2% to 3.2%, the highest reading…

Monetary Policy Committee meeting, Bank of England 6/5/2021 A more upbeat note from the Bank of England, but inflation risk understated. The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee voted unanimously to keep interest rates at 0.1%, but there was one dissenting voice in the vote to continue with its existing programme of UK government bond purchases, financed by the issuance of central bank reserves. Furthermore, although the overall amount of planned asset purchases remains unchanged, the Bank will only purchase £3.4b. of assets per week from May until August 2021, a reduction from the weekly purchases of £4.4b. in the…

Monetary Policy Committee meeting, Bank of England 18/3/2021 A more upbeat note from the Bank of England, but inflation risk understated. The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee voted unanimously at its meeting on 18th March to continue with its ultra-loose monetary policy. No new initiatives were announced and the Committee expressed cautious optimism that the UK economy would recover in the coming months as the number of new infections and deaths from coronavirus continues to fall while the vaccination programme continues. Unlike its counterparts in the Eurozone and the USA, the BoE’s MPC has not issued any forward guidance…

    Monetary Policy Committee meeting, Bank of England 5/11/2020   Monetary Policy Committee meeting, Bank of England. 5th November 2020 Bank of England increases asset purchases by £150b.     The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee voted unanimously at its meeting on 5th December to increase its asset purchase programme by £150b. – in other words, from £725b. to £875b. This was a response to the inevitable deterioration of the UK economy in the final months of 2020 due to the imposition of a four-week national lockdown the same day. Interest rates remain at 0.1% and the MPC stated…