Bank holds rates at 0.5%; no change to QE

The Bank of England has held interest rates at 0.5% and kept its quantitative easing programme at £200bn.

e decision to maintain the base rate at the historic low, where it has been since March 2009, comes as MPC members have been put under mounting pressure to hike rates amid escalating inflation. In December, the CPI index soared well above its target figure of 2% to hit 3.7%. City economists had attached a 20% chance of an increase in the base rate today to combat inflation. Recently, Martin Weale joined fellow MPC member Andrew Sentance in pushing for a 0.25% rise. And last week the Bank's deputy governor Charles Bean added to the clamour for a tightening of policy when he said the MP...