Interest rates cut by 0.5 per cent

Oct 8 2008

Shock early move by MPC as central banks try to steady economy

Seven central banks have cut interest rates by 0.5 per cent.

UK rates are now down to 4.5 per cent after the Bank of England was one of the banks which acted.

The European Central Bank, the US Federal Reserve and the central banks of Canada, Sweden and Switzerland also made the same reduction in a co-ordinated move.

China also cut its basis rate by 27 points.

The last time the Bank of England cut rates in a special meeting was on September 18, 2001 - when rates came down from five per cent to 4.75 per cent.