The Bank of England Money Policy Committee has voted to keep its Bank Rate unchanged today at half a per cent.

The base rate has seen no change for over six years, with the committee voting to freeze it again this week for a further month.
The committee said in a statement: "At its meeting ending on 6 October, the MPC voted by a majority of 8-1 to maintain Bank Rate at 0.5%. The Committee voted unanimously to maintain the stock of purchased assets financed by the issuance of central bank reserves at £375 billion.
"Twelve-month CPI inflation was zero in August, well below the 2% target rate. Around three-quarters of that deviation reflects unusually low contributions from energy, food and other imported goods prices. The remaining quarter reflects the past weakness of domestic cost growth. Although rising, increases in labour costs remain lower than would be consistent with meeting the inflation target in the medium term, were they to persist at current rates. Core inflation remains subdued at around 1%, influenced both by restrained labour cost growth and by muted import cost growth, itself partly reflecting the continuing dampening influence of sterling’s appreciation since mid-2013.
"With inflation below the target, and the likelihood that at least some spare capacity remains in the economy, the MPC intends to set monetary policy so as to ensure that growth is sufficient to absorb any remaining underutilised resources. That will support domestic cost growth and is necessary to ensure that inflation is on track to return sustainably to the 2% target rate within two years."

Officials stated: "All members agreed that the likely persistence of the headwinds restraining economic growth following the financial crisis means that, when Bank Rate does begin to rise, it is expected to do so more gradually and to a lower level than in recent cycles. Such guidance, however, is an expectation and not a promise: the path that Bank Rate will actually follow over the next few years will depend on economic circumstances."
Recently Bank of England Governor Mark Carney had hinted that a rate rise could be on the cards at the turn of the year but economic forecasters now believe a rise is slightly less likely.