SCC WELCOMES FURTHER EXTENSION TO QUANTITATIVE EASING

[ 05-11-2009 ]

Welcoming the decision by the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee to increase its asset purchase scheme by a further £25 billion, Liz Cameron, Chief Executive of Scottish Chambers of Commerce, said:

"We believe that the Bank of England has reached the right decision for our economy.  During the Monetary Policy Committee’s lengthy visit to Scotland a fortnight ago, there was a strong view expressed by businesses that more needed to be done to help free up lending by the banks.  An extension of quantitative easing was therefore required in order to improve access to finance, and was justified by the continuing fragility of the economy and the low inflation rate.

“With the Bank of England’s Quarterly Inflation Report due to be published next week, further data will become available on the prospects for inflation into the New Year.  As a result, the Bank will need to keep its asset purchase policy under review in order to continue to meet the needs of Scottish businesses until such time as our fragile recovery becomes more robust.”
 

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