Bank holds base rate at record low

The Bank of England's (BoE) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has voted to maintain UK interest rates at their historic low of 0.5%.

The last change in the base rate was a drop from 1% to 0.5% on 5 March 2009. The MPC also voted to maintain the size of its asset purchase programme at £375bn. The bank has previously said it will not consider a rate rise until the unemployment rate falls below 7%. On the same day, the European Central Bank shocked markets and caused the euro to drop when it cut interest rates from a historic low of 0.5% to 0.25%, on fears of deflation in the eurozone.