The Bank of England left interest rates and stimulus unchanged Thursday, but cut its 2021 growth forecast owing to the deadly coronavirus crisis despite a global vaccine rollout.
BoE policymakers voted to keep borrowing costs at a record-low 0.1 percent, after their first monetary policy meeting since Britain’s divorce from the European Union at the start of January.
The bank also cut its 2021 gross domestic product growth forecast to 5.0 percent from 7.25 percent, while hinting at the possibility of implementing negative interest rates later this year.
Much of the UK re-entered lockdown in early January to curb variant strains that are deemed more transmissible, with restrictions similar to initial Covid curbs imposed in the second quarter of 2020.