BoE kept monetary policy unchanged as widely expected. Bate Rate is held at 0.10%. Total target stock of asset purchases also stayed at GBP 895B. Both decisions were made with unanimous votes.
The central bank pledged that, “if the outlook for inflation weakens, the Committee stands ready to take whatever additional action is necessary to achieve its remit.”
Also, “the Committee does not intend to tighten monetary policy at least until there is clear evidence that significant progress is being made in eliminating spare capacity and achieving the 2% inflation target sustainably.”
BoE expected GDP to “recover rapidly towards pre-Covid levels over 2021”. As for inflation, CPI is projected “to be close to 2% over the second and third years of the forecast period”.
Outlook for the economy remains “unusually uncertain”, depending on the “evolution of the pandemic, measures taken to protect public health, and how households, businesses and financial markets respond to these developments.”
