BSA: April Bank Rate announcement

Commenting on the decision by the Bank of England to keep the Bank Rate at 0.5%, Adrian Coles, Director-General of the BSA, said: "The Bank's interest rate decision is no surprise. While hard pressed savers should see interest rates maintained, this decision does nothing to help lenders to attract new deposits that could be used to fund mortgage lending.

"With the general economic outlook remaining bleak, we hope that the expansion of the quantitative easing programme will help to lessen the severity of the downturn."