BoE brings forward rate decision ahead of Sunak’s statement on Covid support
The Bank of England (BoE) has moved the announcement of its November interest rates decision forward to avoid it clashing with a statement on Covid-19 support from the chancellor.
The Bank moved the announcement after Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Rishi Sunak would make a statement on the government’s coronavirus support measures to Parliament at noon tomorrow.
“The chancellor will be making a general statement… about all the support, all the provisions that we’re making for this latest phase to tackle the Autumn surge of coronavirus tomorrow,” Johnson told parliament.
Shortly afterwards, the BoE said it will now announce the decision of its interest rate-setters at 7am GMT, instead of 12pm as scheduled.
“Due to the Chancellor’s statement, scheduled for Thursday afternoon, the Bank has brought forward the publication time of its Monetary Policy Report,” a BoE spokesperson said.
Most analysts are expecting the central bank to launch more stimulus measures to mitigate the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic during the winter, with England set to enter a month-long national lockdown tomorrow.
Economists polled by Reuters expect the BoE to expand its asset purchase program by £100bn to £845bn tomorrow, due to the deteriorating economic outlook as fresh restrictions are introduced to curb the spread of the virus.