Carney tightens grammar at Bank of England
Mark Carney unexpectedly tightened up the Bank of England’s grammar in today’s interest rate announcement.
The monetary policy committee’s statement on interest rates and quantitative easing was suddenly flipped into reverse.
Today’s statement said the Bank will “maintain the stock of purchased assets” – whereas last month the MPC decided to “maintain the stock of asset purchases.”
In policy terms, it is no change. When the government bonds held by the Bank mature, it tops up the stock of assets with new purchases, keeping policy on hold.