MW: Bank of England MPC unanimously backed Nov. 6 rate cut
By William L. Watts
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- The Bank of England's nine-member Monetary Policy Committee unanimously backed the decision to slash the central bank's key lending rate to 3% earlier this month, according to a summary of the Nov. 5-6 meeting released Wednesday. "On balance, the committee judged that an immediate reduction in Bank Rate of 1.5 percentage points to 3% was necessary to meet the 2% target for inflation in the medium term," the minutes said. The summary said the MPC in future meetings would reassess economic developments and take into account any fiscal measures introduced by the government, as well as the reaction of the currency and financial markets to the November rate move and the MPC's inflation report. The inflation report was released last week.
