Could interest rates go negative?

The Bank of England has cut interest rates and expanded quantitative easing to boost the economy. If this fails, what might it try next? Matthew Partridge reports.

What's happened?

The Bank of England has announced new measures intended to boost the UK economy and mitigate the uncertainty caused by the vote to leave the European Union. The Bank's monetary policy committee (MPC) has cut interest rates to 0.25% from their previous level of 0.5%.

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Dr Matthew Partridge
Shares editor, MoneyWeek

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.

He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.

Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.

As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @DrMatthewPartri