Bank of England freezes interest rate

The Bank of England has voted to keep its main interest rate at half a per cent against a backdrop of zero inflation in Britain, it said on Thursday.

PHOTO: AFP

OCT 8, 20157:32 PM

[LONDON] The Bank of England has voted to keep its main interest rate at half a per cent against a backdrop of zero inflation in Britain, it said on Thursday.

The central bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) kept its key interest rate at a record-low 0.5 per cent, where it has stood for 6.5 years, it said in minutes of its latest monthly meeting held Tuesday.

The BoE also left unchanged the level of cash stimulus pumping around the British economy at 375 billion pounds (S$810 billion).

Policymakers "voted by a majority of 8-1 to maintain bank rate at 0.5 per cent", the Bank of England said in the minutes.

The nine-member MPC was meanwhile unanimous in its decision to keep the stimulus, known as quantitative easing, at the same level.

"Twelve-month CPI inflation was zero in August, well below the (Bank's) two percent target rate," the minutes noted.

AFP