Bank of England maintains interest rates and expands QE program

Today, a meeting of the Board of the Bank of England took place, at which the regulator kept the key rate at 0.1%, as expected. In addition, the British Central Bank increased its bond purchase program by £100 billion ($125 billion) to 745 billion. The authorities hope that such actions will help the country's economy recover from a record downturn in March and April caused by quarantine.

Representatives of the regulator noted that the Bank of England will spend an additional 100 billion on state bonds, but will slow down the pace of purchases. A new program target of £745 billion is expected to be reached by the end of the year.

The interest rate has been at 0.1% since March 19. In March, the regulator cut the rate twice during extraordinary meetings – first by 50 basis points, to 0.25%, and then by 15 basis points, to 0.1%.