Bank of England interest rates 'to remain at 0.5% for foreseeable future'

Posted: 04 Mar 2010 10:52:01 GMT

The Bank of England interest rate is likely to remain at the current figure of 0.5 per cent for the foreseeable future, according to one finance expert.

Vicky Redwood, UK economist for research consultancy Capital Economics, says: "We believe that they will remain at this level at least for the rest of this year and probably most of next year too."

She states that it is likely that the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will want to wait until inflation peaks and then falls again before anything changes.

Ms Redwood's comments come in response to February's decision by the Bank of England to keep interest rates at the historically low level of 0.5 per cent, which was initially set back in March 2009.

Today (March 4th) the MPC will meet again to discuss the interest rate level - if this changes, it could affect thousands of homeowners all over the UK.

According to figures from the Office for National Statistics, gross domestic product increased by 0.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2009 but is still 3.3 per cent lower than in the fourth quarter of 2008.

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