LONDON: The Bank of England voted on Thursday to maintain its key lending rate at a record low level of 0.50 percent, as Britain struggles to mount an economic recovery despite cooler inflation.
"The Bank of England's monetary policy committee (MPC) today voted to maintain the official bank rate paid on commercial bank reserves at 0.50 percent," it said in a statement issued after a two-day meeting.
Later on Thursday, at 1145 GMT, the European Central Bank is expected to keep eurozone borrowing costs at 1.25 percent, but could signal another increase in June or July, after lifting rates last month to combat soaring inflation.
Although inflation recently fell in Britain, the annual rate remains at more than double the Bank of England's official target level amid high energy and food prices.
The BoE's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has meanwhile refrained from tightening rates because Britain's fledgling economic recovery appears to have stalled amid the impact of deep government spending cuts and tax hikes.
The bank also opted on Thursday against changing its stimulus programme, known as Quantitative Easing (QE), under which it had injected £200 billion (235 billion euros, $322 billion) into the economy.
The decisions were in line with market expectations, while minutes from this week's gathering will be published on May 18, when the BoE will provide reasons for its latest announcements.
"The recent evidence of a marked slowdown in domestic economic activity has probably convinced the majority of MPC members to take a 'wait and see' view," said Ken Wattret, chief eurozone market economist at BNP Paribas.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.