Bank of England’s QE programme is bigger than the City expected

Quantitative easing stimulus is equivalent to almost 2% off interest rates

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The Bank of England has gone all in. By cutting interest rates to 0.1% and announcing a fresh £200bn of money creation via its quantitative easing programme it has fired all the conventional weapons in its arsenal.

There will be some who say this is all reminiscent of the Beyond the Fringe sketch where Peter Cook demands “a futile gesture” to raise the whole tone of the war. Others will saythe Bank’s new governor Andrew Bailey had no choice given the state of the markets and the imminent lockdown in London. Bailey has had a good first week in the job.

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