BOE leaves lending rate intact

The Bank of England left its monetary policies intact Thursday, a widely expected decision given the widespread recession in Europe. The bank, which explains its decisions three weeks after its governing policy group meets, said the rate paid on commercial bank reserves would be kept at 0.5 percent. It would also continue with its $437 billion asset purchasing program. The bank's key lending rate was dropped to 0.5 percent in March 2009. It has remained at this historic low for the past 39 months. The BOE said that minutes to its policy meeting would be released June 20.