Bank of England maintains interest rates at 5.25%

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee today voted to maintain interest rates at 5.25%.

The previous change in Bank Rate was a reduction of 0.25 percentage points to 5.25% on 7 February 2008.

Barry Naisbitt, Chief Economist at Abbey commented: "The Bank of England held rates at 5.25% today. Financial market commentators had not expected a cut but thought it a possibility, especially as one Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) member voted to cut rates by 0.50% last month.

"Last month’s Inflation Report from the Bank of England indicated that slowing economic growth was expected and that a lower level of interest rates looked consistent with achieving the 2% inflation target in the medium term.

"However, the report also showed that inflation is expected to rise in the near term. I presume that this month the majority of MPC members judged that the most recent evidence of slowing economic activity needed to be balanced against both their expectation that activity would slow and that inflation indicators remain high. I expect the balance of views to change as time passes, so that a further rate cut could be on the cards in the next couple of months".