Bank of England leaves interest rate unchanged at 5.25 per cent

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

The Bank of England has announced it will freeze interest rates once again. Following a meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) this morning (March 21), members voted in favour of holding rates at 5.25 per cent.

It highlighted that the economy is not yet in the right place to allow the Bank to begin cutting the base rate. None of the nine members of the decision making body voted in favour of an increase.

Eight members said rates should be kept the same at least until the next meeting. However, this doesn't mean that rates won't be cut anytime soon, with some experts predicting a cut as early as late spring or early summer. Read more: Full list of money changes coming in April that will affect your wages Following the decision to hold rates at 5.25 per cent, Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey said: “In recent weeks we’ve seen further encouraging signs that inflation is coming down.

We’ve held rates again today at 5.25 per cent because we need to be sure that inflation will fall back to our 2 per cent target and stay there. “We’re not yet at the point where we can cut interest rates, but things are moving in the right direction.” This is the fifth consecutive time the Bank has decided to freeze the base rate which has a direct influence on mortgage rates and payback loans across the country.