What QE means to us

The bank is effectively printing more money, as it has done before in this programme of Quantitative Easing (QE). They are taking the total from £325bn to £375bn over the next four months.

The bank hopes that will make it cheaper for the commercial banks to borrow money, which will make it easier for them to lend to households and businesses, which in turn will help the economy grow.

This is the third batch of QE. It has worked in the past but there are some questions about whether it will continue to be as effective. Partly because the banks are sitting on some of this cash instead of lending it.

Partly, also because, many companies are finding it too risky to borrow at the moment, so they don't actually want it.