Interest rates have been held at 0.5% for the seventh month in succession by the Bank of England.

The current rate of 0.5% is the lowest in the bank's history, and it was widely expected that the rate would remain unchanged.

The Bank also said that it will continue with its programme of injecting £175bn in the economy through its quantative easing (QE) initiative.

"It is as yet early days in gauging the effect of the QE programme so far, but companies are still facing serious constraints in their financing, so the Bank must take no risks in ending the programme prematurely," said Ian McCafferty, the Confederation of British Industry's chief economic adviser.