Interest rates held again at 0.5%

The Bank of England has held interest rates at the historic low of 0.5% and announced no new changes to its quantitative easing programme.

The bank first cut interest rates to 0.5% in March in an attempt to boost the UK economy, and it is widely expected that the rate will not be increased until at least the second quarter of 2010.

An extra injection of £25bn was made to the quantitative easing programme in November, bringing the total amount injected into the economy to £200bn. Analysts expect the bank to wait until the current initiative runs out in January before considering whether to expand the programme.

"It's not a surprise that the Bank has taken no new action, as the latest round of quantitative easing announced last month is due to continue until February. Economic growth will be anaemic at best across 2010, so the Bank will have to continue looking to monetary policy levers for some time yet, and interest rates are likely to remain low for some time," said Ian McCafferty, chief economic adviser to the CBI.

The Bank recently warned that the UK's economic recovery would be slow and that it would take months for its policies to have their full impact.