Bank of England maintains ultra-low interest rate for 65th month

Bank of England (BoE), the central bank of Britain, Thursday voted to maintain Bank Rate at 0.5 percent.
BoE also voted to maintain the stock of purchased assets, or quantitative easing policy scheme, at 375 billion pounds (632 billion U.S. dollars).
It is the 65th successive month that the benchmark interest rate stays at historical low level. The decision is within the market’s estimation consensus.
The BoE cut the interest rate to a record low of 0.5 percent in March 2009, to mitigate impacts brought about by the financial turmoil and euro zone sovereign debt crisis.
The previous change in the size of that QE scale was an increase of 50 billion pounds to a total 375 billion pounds in July 2012.
Earlier this year, the BoE had revised its forward guidance policy framework, by scrapping its 7 percent unemployment target, and introducing nearly 20 economic indicators to determine its monetary policy movement.
Economists expect that the central bank would not be raising the benchmark interest rate, as well as tapering the QE policy, until the first quarter of next year, because of the softening of inflation pressure and the slack in labor market.
British inflation rate was well below the BoE's target of 2 percent over the past few months, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
BoE's latest economic projections will appear in the forthcoming Inflation Report to be published on August 13, said the central bank in a press release.
The minutes of Thursday’s monetary policy meeting will be published on August 20. (1 pound = 1.69 U.S. dollars)