Bank of England holds rates at 0.5%

by Richard Kilner

Story link: Bank of England holds rates at 0.5%

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of England has chosen to retain the interest rate at 0.5%.

It is the sixth month in a row that the rate has remained at the historic low, the smallest interest rate in the bank’s three hundred year history.

In addition, the MPC has continued with its £175bn quantitative easing programme of asset purchases, a process estimated to run its course in another two months.

However, the size of the quantitative easing programme will remain under review, and last month was increased by £50bn to the present level of £175bn.

The move mirrors that of the European Central Bank, which earlier this month elected to keep the eurozone interest rate at 1%.