Bank of England: no change in base rate, stimulus

The Bank of England has left its base interest rate unchanged and has not authorized any additional stimulus measures, a decision which was widely expected by the market.

Thursday’s announcement by the Monetary Policy Committee left the bank’s key rate at the all-time low of 0.5 percent, where it has been since March 2009.

The Bank’s program of so-called quantitative easing — purchases of government bonds and other high-quality debt to boost credit activity — remains at a total of 375 billion pounds ($604 billion).

Expectations of further stimulus measures this month evaporated after the U.K.’s gross domestic product rose by an unexpectedly strong 1 percent in the third quarter, ending a nine-month recession.