Bank of England keeps interest rates at 0.5%

The bank also left the scale of its quantitative easing programme to boost the money supply unchanged at £275 billion sterling.

This is the 33rd consecutive month that the base rate has been left unchanged.

Responding to concerns about lagging economic growth, the bank last month revived the stimulus programme which pumped £200 billion into the economy between March 2009 and January 2010.