Bank holds rate at 0.5%, maintains QE at £375bn

The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has voted to hold the base rate of interest at 0.5%.

Following its monthly meeting, the MPC also decided to maintain its quantitative easing (QE) asset purchase programme at £375bn. The last movement from the MPC came in July, when it boosted the QE programme by £50bn. It has held the record low base rate since March 2009, and both decisions were in line with economists' predictions. The Bank is expected to assess the impact of its most recent QE boost and the impact of the £80bn 'funding for lending' scheme before going ahead with any further changes. Vicky Redwood, chief UK economist at Capital Economics, said today's decision "...