The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee has announced that base rate will remain at 0.5% making it a full two years since the rate was dropped to this record low level.

Some commentators have suggested that rates should now start to move upwards to stem off the inflationary pressures being seen within the economy, however the general consensus seems to be that a move before May is unlikely as this will give time for any changes announced in the Budget (due in just under two weeks on 23rd March) to be analysed.  The Bank seems to be making it clear that it considers the risks from inflation, which it seems to consider a potentially short term issue due largely to external pressures and unlikely to be directly controllable through interest rate movements, secondary to the delicate recovery that (it hopes) is continuing within the wider economy.