Interest rates frozen at 0.5pc
UK interest rates have been frozen at 0.5 per cent.
The Bank of England is pursuing a “wait and see” strategy ahead of the budget.
Its monetary policy committee (MPC) kept the rate at a record low for the fifteenth consecutive month.
IHS Global Insight economist Howard Archer said: “The government’s plans will become a lot clearer in the emergency budget and this will undoubtedly play a major role in the Bank of England’s thinking on how monetary policy pans out over the coming months.”
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has called for the Bank of England to raise the cost of borrowing to 3.5 per cent by the end of 2011.