BoE keeps rates on hold

The Bank of England has held interest rates at their record low of 0.5 per cent and kept the size of its quantitative easing (QE) programme unchanged at £375 billion.

Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at IHS Global Insight, said: “We expect the Bank of England to deliver one £25bn portion of QE in the second quarter, taking the stock up to £400bn, with another £25bn occurring shortly after Mark Carney takes over as governor in July.”