When monetary authorities gather this week for their monthly consideration of policy, it will be a gathering unlike any other. They will for the first time consider the use of tools beyond interest rates to attempt to stabilise an economy set on a steep downward trajectory.

The Bank of England’s monetary policy committee is widely expected to cut its main rate to a new record low of 0.5 per cent, a move that will mark the beginning of a series of unorthodox measures.