Last updated: 18 June 2020
Interest rates - Official Bank Rate
| Bank rate | 0.1% |
| Quantative Easing |
The committee voted unanimously to maintain the Bank Rate at 0.1%. The Committee voted to continue with the existing programme of maining the stock of sterling non-financial investment grade corporate purchases at £20 billion. The committee also voted 9-0 to continue with its existing program of UK government bond purchases, financed by the issuance of central bank reserves, at a target stock of £875 billion. |
| Last decision | 17th March 2021. Voting was 9-0. |
| Next decision | February 2021 |
| Recent movements | 21 June 2018: 0.5% to 0.75%, 30 Jan 2020: 0.75% to 0.25%, 11 March 2020: 0.25% to 0.1%. |
UK Inflation
CPIH inflationCPI inflation |
0.8% 12 month rate. Dec 2020. The largest contribution to CPIH for this 12 month period was from recreation and culture. 0.5% in May 2020, down from 0.8% in April |
| Government CPI target | 2.0% |
| Upward pressure | Recreation and culture 0.23% |
| Downward pressure | Covid-19 restrictions. |
| Scottish house Price inflation | 1.6% (12 months to January 2020) . The average price of a property in Scotland was £152,121. |
| UK house price inflation | 1.3% (12 months to January 2020). The average price of a residential property in England is £247,000 and properties in England saw an increase of 1.1% over the 12 months to January 2020. Northern Ireland saw an increase of 2.5% over the 12 months to January 2020. The average residential price in Northern Ireland as of January 2020 was £142,000. |
GDP
| GDP Headlines |
UK GDP fell by in the three months to April 2020 UK GDP fell by 20.40% in April 2020, following a fall of 5.8% in March 2020 |
| Downward pressure | February 2020 to April 2020. General Covid19 restrictions led to the downturn. Construction (-18.2%), Accommodation (-40.9%), Transport and storage (-18.3%), Wholesale retyail and trade (-14.5%). |
| Upward pressure | The only sector in positive teritory was Public administration and defence 0.2%. |
| Q4 2020 GDP | |
| Note | For more information go to Office for National Statistics GDP |
Retail Sales
| Retail sales | The volume of retail sales in April 2020 fell by a record 18.1% following a 5.2% fall in March 2020. |
| Headlines | All sectors saw a monthly decline in volume sales except for a record increase in sales for non-store retailing at 18.0% and a continued increase in sales for alcohol stores at 2.3%. |
| The volume of clothing sales in April 2020 plummeted by 50.2% when compared with March 2020, which had already fallen by 34.9% on the previous month. | |
| Online retail | The proportion spent online soared to the highest on record in April 2020 at 30.7%, which compares with the 19.1% reported in April 2019. |
