Bank of England ramps up stimulus by £150 bn to tackle new lockdown impact

The Bank of England increased its already huge bond-buying stimulus by a bigger-than-expected £150 billion ($195 billion) as it prepared for economic damage from new coronavirus lockdowns and the looming risk of Brexit.

The move comes on the day that England entered a four-week lock­down to curb a second wave of Covid-19, which is now killing as many Britons each day as it did in May.

The BoE said Britain's economy was set to shrink 2 per cent during the fourth quarter as a result, and that the economy would shrink a record 11 per cent over the course of 2020 overall,