BoE adds another £100 billion to bond-buying program to curb coronavirus slowdown

The Bank of England on Thursday added another £100 billion to its quantitative easing program in a bid to shore up the U.K. economy amid the fallout from the coronavirus crisis.

The additional bond purchases will take the total value of the central bank’s Asset Purchase Facility (APF) to £745 billion.

The Bank resisted taking interest rates into negative territory, a decision being closely watched by investors, instead opting to hold its main lending rate steady at 0.1%. Rates have been reduced twice from 0.75% since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Despite its recent flirting with negative policy rates, we think it is quite unlikely the Bank will go down this path,” said Luke Bartholomew, investment strategist at Aberdeen Standard Investments.

“Instead we expect further QE to be announced in time, along with tweaks to its credit provision facilities, making it easier and cheaper for banks to finance lending to the real economy.”

Source:CNBC