Bank of England continues to hold interest rate at 0.5%

05 November 2009 12:02  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS news)--The Bank of England left UK base interest rates unchanged at 0.5% on Thursday for the eighth consecutive month.

It also raised its quantitative easing total by £25bn to £200bn (€222bn, $330bn).

The decision follows official figures that revealed that the UK economy had shrunk by 0.4% in the July to September period. It is the first meeting since it was revealed on 23 October that the economy had not emerged from recession as hoped.

The recession has forced the bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) into a series of interest rate cuts, which has seen rates fall from 5.5% in October to the current level, set in March.

The European Central Bank (ECB) was also expected to keep its interest rates unchanged at 1%.

($1 = £0.61/£1 = €1.11)

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