Thursday, 08 November 2012 12:26
Bank of England maintains base rate at 0.5%
The Bank of England has held interest rates at 0.5 per cent and announced no new quantitative easing.
The decision was made at the latest meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee held on 5 and 6 December.
Interest rates have been held at 0.5 per cent since March 2009 while the quantitative easing programme was last updated in July when £50bn was added.
Further details will be given when the minutes of the meeting are published later this month on 19 December.
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The Bank of England said it would maintain the size of the Asset Purchase Programme at £375 billion
Barry Naisbitt, Chief Economist at Santander UK, said:"After last month's Inflation Report, the decision to once again hold rates and quantitative easing came as no real surprise to markets and commentators. There remains uncertainty about the underlying pace of economic activity, with the strong estimate of GDP growth in the third quarter of this year being flattered by special factors. The latest indicators of economic activity for November do not show a strong position, although activity trends continue to be mixed - stronger for the service sector than for manufacturing industry.
"While the latest Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) minutes do not rule out further quantitative easing, and indeed one MPC member voted for more last month, the MPC will be continuing to monitor the economic signs closely to decide whether it considers it necessary to provide any further policy boost in the months ahead."
The decision was made at the latest meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee held on 5 and 6 December.
Interest rates have been held at 0.5 per cent since March 2009 while the quantitative easing programme was last updated in July when £50bn was added.
Further details will be given when the minutes of the meeting are published later this month on 19 December.
{desktop}{/desktop}{mobile}{/mobile}
The Bank of England said it would maintain the size of the Asset Purchase Programme at £375 billion
Barry Naisbitt, Chief Economist at Santander UK, said:"After last month's Inflation Report, the decision to once again hold rates and quantitative easing came as no real surprise to markets and commentators. There remains uncertainty about the underlying pace of economic activity, with the strong estimate of GDP growth in the third quarter of this year being flattered by special factors. The latest indicators of economic activity for November do not show a strong position, although activity trends continue to be mixed - stronger for the service sector than for manufacturing industry.
"While the latest Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) minutes do not rule out further quantitative easing, and indeed one MPC member voted for more last month, the MPC will be continuing to monitor the economic signs closely to decide whether it considers it necessary to provide any further policy boost in the months ahead."
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