BoE to 'sit on its hands' before pulling trigger on further economic support

Sights set on 2% inflation target

The Bank of England (BoE) is expected to return to business as usual in 2021, refocusing its attention on its 2% inflation target, but further economic damage wrought by the coronavirus pandemic and Brexit could spur additional asset purchases and the 'nuclear option' of negative interest rates by the second half of the year.

The Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts anticipate GDP growth of 5.5% in 2021, the strongest growth rate for more than 30 years, but economists warn this could be derailed and the BoE could be forced into unprecedented action. Bailey: BoE cannot prevent all Brexit disruption to financial services December's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting saw the Bank's key interest rate maintained at 0.1%, and unanimous consensus to hold corporate and government bond purchases at their existing levels respectively. However, the MPC stressed that "the outlook for the economy remains ...