Bank of England cuts interest rate to ‘historic low’ in the wake of coronavirus

The Bank of England has cut the base rate from 0.5 per cent to 0.25 per cent in response to the growing coronavirus outbreak.

The emergency measure, which sees the rate drop to the joint lowest in history, has been taken as part of a wider plan by the bank to support the UK economy.

The news comes as the virus continues to take hold across Europe and the wider world, and follows the global stock market crash on Monday (March 9).

In addition, the Bank of England has released banks from having to maintain a capital buffer in order to enable them to support customers with additional lending throughout the disruption.

In addition, it will set up a fund - expected to be £100bn - to support the lending needs of British SMEs.