Interest rates remain at 0.5%
- 00:01:40
- ITN
Interest rates remain at 0.5%
The Bank of England has left interest rates unchanged at 0.5 per cent and will wait before pumping more cash into the economy. The rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) was expected to vote to step up its quantitative easing programme by £25 billion. But it will wait before hitting the £150 billion limit permitted by the Chancellor until the effects of previous cash injections can be seen. The latest meeting of the MPC comes amid signs of the fragility of the UK's attempts to haul itself out of recession. According to the Bank's own data, credit conditions remain tight and lending to business fell in April and May - suggesting that the boost to the money supply is having limited immediate impact. Revisions to official data showed the economy contracted 2.4 per cent in the first three months of the year - the worst quarter since 1958 and almost equivalent to the entire fall seen during the 1990s recession.
ITN | July 9, 2009
