Bank of England keeps interest rates on hold at first post-election meeting
Telegraph - May 11, 2015
The Bank of England has decided to keep its interest rates on hold this May, keeping them unchanged for the first time since the general election.
The central bank maintained its rates at their historic lows of 0.5pc for the whole of the last Parliament, and has elected to keep them in place as the new one is set to begin.
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) - composed of nine individuals who vote on Bank policy - also decided to keep the Bank's asset purchases unchanged.
Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank, is set to update markets on the Bank's views for the first time in many weeks on Wednesday. Then, the Bank is due to publish its quarterly health check on the economy, the Inflation Report.
The MPC has been kept in "purdah" for six weeks, staying quiet in order not to sway voters ahead of the election. Now they will take stock, digesting recent movements in oil prices and the pound, before signalling how and when interest rates will rise.
