THE Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee has held UK base rates at a record low of 0.5 per cent at its latest meeting.
It announced at noon that it had, at its meeting on June 3, voted to hold rates and maintain the scale of its stimulatory quantitative easing programme at £375 billion.
Base rates have been at 0.5 per cent since March 2009. Many economists are predicting the first rise in rates from their record low will not come until next year.
UK economic growth slowed sharply in the first quarter of this year, to just 0.3 per cent.
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