Base rate held at 0.5%

The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee has maintained base rate at 0.5% and kept quantitative easing at £375 billion. Last week, Capital Economics predicted a further cut and that the Monetary Policy Committee would lower base rate to 0.25% in November this year. The previous change was a reduction of 0.5% on 5 March 2009. The European Central Bank delayed a decision to restart a bond-buying programme after they unanimously agreed to keep its key interest rate unchanged at 0.75%. They reduced the rate by 0.25% last month. August 3, 2012