Interest rates held at 0 5 by Bank of England

The Bank of England has held interest rates at 0.5 per cent.


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By :  ,  Financial Analyst

Interest rates have been held yet again by the Bank of England at 0.5 per cent today (May 9th), it was announced by the institution.

The base rate has been held at the record low of 0.5 per cent since March 2009, meaning it is more than four years since the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) last voted for a change.

There is speculation that the change of governor at the Bank of England – with Mervyn King set to be replaced by David Carney soon – might lead to shift in monetary policy.

Analysts were not surprised by the decision to hold the base rate at 0.5 per cent for another month and Barry Naisbitt, chief economist at Santander UK, described the move as “widely expected”.

He said: “The Inflation Report to be published later this month should provide further information on how the MPC sees the economy evolving.”

The news the UK avoided slipping into a triple-dip recession earlier this year by recording 0.3 per cent growth in the first quarter took pressure off the MPC to act on interest rates.

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