Coronavirus: Bank pumps £100bn into UK economy to aid recovery

The Bank of England will pump an extra £100bn into the UK economy to help fight the «unprecedented» coronavirus-induced downturn.

Bank policymakers voted 8-1 to increase the size of its bond-buying programme.

However, they said there was growing evidence that the hit to the economy would be «less severe» than initially feared.

The Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) also kept interest rates at a record low of 0.1%.

The move comes just days after Bank governor Andrew Bailey said policymakers were ready to take action after the economy suffered its biggest monthly contraction on record.

The UK economy shrank by 20.4% April, while official jobs data showed the number of workers on UK payrolls fell by more than 600,000 between March and May.