Bank holds rates at 0.5%

The Bank of England has again held rates at 0.5% amid signs the economic recovery is failing to gather momentum.

In a widely expected move, the Monetary Policy Committee's (MPC) decision to keep rates at historical lows comes on the back of a spate of downbeat economic data. Today's decision marks the 26th consecutive month rates have remained unchanged. The Bank also kept its quantitative easing programme at £200bn. Disappointing GDP growth figures for Q1 - which showed the economy grew just 0.5% after a 0.5% contraction in Q4 - along with negative data coming from the construction, manufacturing and home lending sectors have served to highlight the fragile state of the economy. This week, t...