Interest rates were slashed by another percentage point on Thursday, bringing the official cost of borrowing down to 2 per cent, equal to the lowest rate since the Bank of England was founded in 1694.
The sudden and brutal deterioration in the economic outlook across Europe also prompted the European Central Bank to cut its main policy rate by three-quarters of a percentage point to 2.5 per cent – its largest reduction ever – just hours after Sweden’s central bank cut the country’s official borrowing costs by a record 175 basis points.
