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The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is a committee of the Bank of England, which meets for three and a half days twelve times a year 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 and forward guidance. The Committee comprises eight members, along with the Governor of the Bank of England (as of 2013 Mark Carney), 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 2015). Its secondary aim – to support growth and employment – was reinforced in March 2013. 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 alongside the Committee's monetary policy decisions, and members are regularly called before the Treasury Select Committee, as well as speaking to wider audiences at events during the year. == Purpose == The Committee is responsible for formulating the United Kingdom's monetary policy, most commonly via the setting of the rate at it which it lends to banks (officially the Bank of England Base Rate or BOEBR for short).〔 As laid out in law, decisions are made with a primary aim of price stability, defined by the government's inflation target (2% on the Consumer Price Index as of 2011).〔 The target takes the form of a "point", rather than the "band" used by the Treasury prior to 1997.〔 The secondary aim of the Committee is to support the government's economic policies, and help it meet its targets for growth and employment.〔 That secondary aim was reinforced by then Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne in his March 2013 budget, with the MPC given more discretion to more openly "trade off" above-rate inflation in the medium run to boost other economic indicators. The MPC is not responsible for fiscal policy, which is handled by the Treasury itself,〔 but is briefed by the Treasury about fiscal policy developments at meetings.〔 Under the Bank of England Act 1998 the Bank's Governor must write an open letter of explanation to the Chancellor of the Exchequer if inflation exceeds the target by more than one percentage point in either direction, and once every three months thereafter until prices are back within the allowed range. It should also set out what plans the Bank has for rectifying the problem, and how long it is expected to remain at those levels in the meantime.〔 In January 2009 the Chancellor announced an Asset Purchase Facility (APF), to be administered by the MPC, aimed at ensuring greater liquidity in financial markets.〔(【引用サイトリンク】publisher=Bank of England )〕 The committee had already started to cut rates the previous autumn, but the effect of such changes can take up to two years and rates cannot go below zero. By March 2009, faced with very low levels on inflation and interest rates already at 0.5%, the MPC voted to start the process of quantitative easing (QE) – the injection of money directly into the economy – via the APF. It had the Bank buy government bonds (gilts), along with a smaller amount of high-quality debt issued by private companies. Although non-gilts initially made up a non-negligible part of the APF portfolio, as of May 2015 the entirety of the APF was held as gilts. On 7 August 2013, Governor Mark Carney issued the committee's first forward guidance as a third tool for controlling future inflation. Criticism of the MPC has centred on its predominant focus on inflation to the detriment of growth and employment,〔 although that criticism may have been mitigated by the March 2013 revisions to the committee's remit. There have also been complaints about the reluctance of lenders to pass on rate changes, and about the extent to which the introduction and management of QE have risked politicising the committee. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Monetary Policy Committee」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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