Bank of England base rate held at 0.5% again

Today also marks nearly three years to the day since the base rate was first lowered to 0.5% from 1% in March 2009.

The decision spells good news for some mortgage holders whose rates are linked to the base rate, although savers will continue to see low returns on their money at a time when high inflation is eroding the value of their deposits.

Despite the low base rate, some banks have decided recently to increase their standard variable mortgage rates (see the Rate hikes MSE news story).

Meanwhile, there was no repeat of last month's cash injection into the economy, as the Bank of England decided not to pump any extra money into the financial system this month via quantitative easing (QE), which is effectively the printing of extra money.

Last month, the Bank of England injected a further £50 billion into the economy, increasing the quantitative easing programme from £275 billion to £325 billion, despite the risk of triggering a rise in inflation.