The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is a committee of the Bank of England, which meets for two and a half days every month to decide the official interest rate in the United Kingdom (the Bank of England Base Rate). It is also responsible for directing other aspects of the government's monetary policy framework, such as quantitative easing. The Committee comprises eight members, along with the Governor of the Bank of England (as of 2011 Mervyn King), and is responsible primarily for keeping the Consumer Price Index (CPI) measure of inflation close to a target set by the government (2% as of 2011).
Announced on 6 May 1997, only five days after that year's General Election, and officially given operational responsibility for setting interest rates in the Bank of England Act 1998, the Committee was designed to be independent of political interference and thus to add credibility to interest rate decisions. Each member has one vote, for which they are held to account: full minutes of each meeting are published within two weeks, and members are regularly called before the Treasury Select Committee, as well as speaking to wider audiences at events during the year.
Read more about Monetary Policy Committee: Purpose, History, Composition, Meetings, Membership
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