The Bank of England has cut interest rates to the lowest level in history.

Following the emergency move, done to try and support the UK economy in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, rates are now set at just 0.1%

It is the second cut in interest rates in just over a week, bringing them down to 0.1% from 0.25%

The Bank said it would also increase its holdings of UK government bonds.

A statement from the Bank said: ’Over recent days, and in common with a number of other advanced economy bond markets, conditions in the UK gilt market have deteriorated as investors have sought shorter-dated instruments that are closer substitutes for highly liquid central bank reserves.

’As a consequence, UK and global financial conditions have tightened.

’At its special meeting on 19 March, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) judged that a further package of measures was warranted to meet its statutory objectives.

’It therefore voted unanimously to increase the Bank of England’s holdings of UK government bonds and sterling non-financial investment-grade corporate bonds by £200 billion to a total of £645 billion, financed by the issuance of central bank reserves, and to reduce Bank Rate by 15 basis points to 0.1%. ’