The Bank of England today maintained the Bank Rate at 0.5% and the size of the Asset Purchase Programme at £375 billion.
The Bank of England reduced its Bank Rate by 0.5 percentage points to 0.5% on 5 March 2009 and it has remained unchanged since. {desktop}{/desktop}{mobile}{/mobile} The announcement means that the base rate has been unchanged for over 4.5 years. Economists have forecast that this means it could be 2016 before the Bank of England base rate is increased however the Chancellor today disclosed that unemployment, a trigger for a base rate review, could fall faster than expected. Governor Mark Carney has said in the past that the base rate will not be reviewed or increased until unemployment fell to 7%. However, today Chancellor George Osborne said in his Autumn Statement that a recovering UK economy could mean unemployment could fall to 7% or below by 2015, raising the prospect of a potential base rate rise then. • Want to receive a free weekly summary of the best news stories from our website every Friday? Sign up on our home now - it takes just a few seconds.
Promote your vacancy to thousands of professionals on Financial Planning Jobs
Our specialist jobs service Financial Planning Jobs can help you reach nearly 12,000 financial professionals. You can set up an Employer Profile and post your job the same day on Financial Planning Jobs (terms apply). Dozens of Financial Planning and Paraplanning firms have used our affordable service to recruit new talent.