BOE leaves policy alone

The Bank of England said Thursday that it would keep both of its key monetary policy in place, holding the overnight lending rate at 0.5 percent. The BOE also said it would continue with a $583 billion asset purchasing program. The BOE said the asset purchases, which were first announced in March 2009, would "take another three months to complete." In the meantime, "The scale of the program will be kept under review," the bank said. The central bank does not explain its policy decisions directly, but releases minutes of the policy meeting three weeks after meetings are held. The bank also said its inflation and output projections would be available in its Inflation Report, which will be released Aug. 8.