The Bank of England (BoE) has cut its base lending rate by half a percentage point to 4 per cent.
The BoE was widely expected to make its seventh cut in interest rates of the year today amid signs of deepening economic gloom on both sides of the Atlantic.
The half-point cut matches that made by the US Federal Reserve on Tuesday, which took rates in the world's largest economy to 2 per cent.
The European Central Bank is also expected to cut rates by a quarter or even half a point within an hour of the BoE's announcement as it bids to head off recession in the 12-member euro zone. Rates there are at 3.75 per cent.