More money for Banks as BoE keeps interest rates at 0.5%

AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE | APRIL 18, 2012

Bank of England policymakers all voted in favour of holding interest rates at a record low earlier in April, while one member called for more stimulus cash, the BoE said on Wednesday.

Minutes from the central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting on April 4-5 showed that the nine policymakers voted to keep the key lending rate at 0.50 percent, where it has stood since March 2009.

The policymaking panel meanwhile voted 8-1 at the same meeting in favour of maintaining the size of the bank’s asset purchasing programme at £325 billion (388 billion euros, $514 billion).

One member, David Miles, voted for the second month to increase the so-called quantitative easing (QE) programme by an additional £25 billion.

Under QE, the central bank creates new cash that is used to purchase assets such as government and corporate bonds in the aim of giving a boost to lending and economic activity.

“For most members, there was no sufficient reason to change either bank rate or the quantity of asset purchases,” the minutes read.

“Moreover, for them, it seemed sensible to let the current programme of asset purchases run its course while coming to a view on medium-term prospects in the context of the May forecast round.

“For one member, the balance of risks continued to warrant an expansion of the asset purchase programme this month, although the decision was finely balanced.”