The Bank of England has cut UK interest rates in an emergency move to bolster the economy amid the Coronavirus outbreak.
The monetary policy committee voted unanimously to slash the bank rate by 50 basis points from 0.75% to 0.25%, at an unscheduled meeting held on Tuesday.
The interest cut comes as part of a wider package of measures unveiled by Mark Carney, in his final week as governor of the Bank of England, designed to dovetail with the chancellor Rishi Sunak’s budget due to be unveiled on Wednesday.
The US Federal Reserve already did an emergency 50 basis point reduction March 3 to manage the impact of the virus on the world’s largest economy.
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) also cut interest rates in hopes of curbing market reaction to the ongoing Coronavirus outbreak.
