Friday, March 27, 2015
How low can interest rates go?
The Bank of England's website says that the "effective lower bound" for the interest rate it sets, Bank Rate, is the current rate of 0.5%.
This is the level, according to the Bank, "below which it cannot be set" - the lowest practicable official interest rate.
But on this important issue the website is behind the thinking of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee, which sets Bank Rate as its main tool to keep inflation on target.
Because just over a month ago, the Bank's governor said that if low inflation were to begin to depress expectations of inflation and wage growth, the MPC could "cut Bank Rate further towards zero".
And with inflation well below the 2% target at zero, the Bank's chief economist, Andy Haldane, has said - as a personal rather than institutional view - that there is a meaningful chance that Bank Rate will be cut.
Read the full article here.
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