Interest rates stay at 0.5%

The Bank of England today left both aspects of its monetary policy on hold with interest rates remaining at 0.5 per cent and quantitative easing at £200 billion.

Despite its own projections that growth and inflation will both pick up over the next two years, the Bank of England has given little indication that it's in a hurry to raise interest rates from 0.5 per cent. Although officially out of recession, the economy will face a fiscal squeeze as the government tackles the country's record Budget deficit.