The Bank of England kept its key interest rate at a record low and quantitative easing unchanged on Thursday.
The Monetary Policy Committee decided to retain the key bank rate at 0.50 percent and the size of asset purchases at GBP 375 billion at the end of the two-day rate setting meeting.
The rate has been at a historic low since March 2009. The previous change in quantitative easing was an increase of GBP 50 billion in July 2012.
The bank is set to release the minutes of the meeting on April 22. The minutes of the March meeting revealed that all members agreed that it was more likely than not that Bank Rate would increase over the next three years.
Any interest rate hike could be delayed if there is prolonged political uncertainty after May's general election and this has a dampening impact on economic activity, particularly business investment, IHS Global Insight's Chief UK Economist Howard Archer said.
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May 01, 2026 15:54 ET Central banks dominated the economics news flow this week with almost all major ones announcing their latest policy decisions and many boosted expectations for a rate hike in June. In other news, several countries released the preliminary data for first quarter economic growth. In the U.S., comments by Fed Chair Jerome Powell were also in focus as his term ends this month.