Interest Rates Held at 0.5%
The Bank of England‘s Monetary Policy Committee has voted to keep the bank base lending rate at 0.5% and there will be no further quantitive easing. The decision comes as no surprise but the degree to which members of the MPC voted will only become apparent when the minutes of today’s meeting are published. The last meeting of the MPC saw two members vote for a rise in the base interest rate, which is becoming in increasingly likely as ways to rein-in inflation are sought. The last inflation rate figure, 3.7% in December 2010, is nearly double the target figure of 2%. With the UK economy in a surprise 0.5% decline for the last quarter of 2010, there are fears that economic growth could be stifled by high inflation, led by fuel and food prices, but the historically low interest ... »