Rates on Hold at 0.5% but Expected to Rise This Year
February 5th, 2010 by 
THE ARTICLES SHOWN ARE FOR INFORMATION ONLY AND DO NOT CONSTITUTE ADVICE OR RECOMMENDATION
The Bank of England has kept interest rates on hold at 0.5% and frozen its quantitative easing programme for the time being.
Analysts widely expected the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) would keep quantitative easing at £200bn after the economy grew slightly in the final quarter of last year.
Office for National Statistics data showed the economy grew by 0.1% in the last 3 months of 2009.
Some economists say quantitative easing has done all it can to help the economy, and want the MPC to turn its focus to controlling inflation.
Interest rates will remain at 0.5% for the 11th consecutive month. However, rates are widely expected to rise later this year, after inflation hit almost 3% last month due to rising fuel prices and the increased rate of VAT.
Posted in Mortgage news | 