Base rate stays at 0.5%

by Aaron Strutt

May 11 2012

The Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee has kept base on hold at 0.5% and maintained quantitative easing at £325bn.

Barry Naisbitt, chief economist at Santander UK,  commented on the latest decision: "Given the reported fall in economic activity in the first quarter of this year and that the MPC increased quantitative easing in February, there was some speculation about whether the MPC would further increase its asset purchases.

“With no policy change this month, the real focus will probably come with the Bank of England's Inflation Report which is published later this month.  With inflation having edged up to 3.5% in March, it will be interesting to see if the Bank retains its view that inflation will fall to its 2% target by the end of this year."

May 11, 2012