0.5% Base Rate Maintained by Bank of England

Interest rates of the Bank of England were held at 0.5% with an announcement of no quantitative easing.

The latest meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee was held on 5th and 6th December where the decision was made. Since, March 2009 interest rates have been held at 0.5%, whilst the quantitative easing programme was updated last in July, with £50 billion added.

The minutes of the meeting are to be published on the 19th December which includes further details. The Bank of England have said they will retain the size of Asset Purchase Programme at £375 billion.

Following last month's Inflation Report, it isn't really a surprise that rates have been held. There is a lot of uncertainty about the momentum of economic activity. Economic activity in November has not been strong, however, activity trends are inclined to vary. This has resulted in the service sector being stronger than the manufacturing sector.