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QE2 Launched

Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) announces latest Base Rate and Asset Purchase Program decision.

Today, the Bank of England's MPC announced it is to maintain the official Bank Rate at 0.5%.  The interest rate has now been at this level since March 2009.

In a more surprising move, it was also announced that the Bank is to extend the Asset Purchase Programme by £75bn.  The original program, also known as Quantitative Easing (QE), was set up in March 2009 to purchase £200bn worth of high quality assets in order improve liquidity in credit markets.  This second round, QE2, was launched as "tensions in the world economy" continued to threaten the UK economy.

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