UK Interest Rates Still at 0.5%

The interest rates of the United Kingdom is now at a record low and still at 0.5 percent, according to the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee.

There have been a lot of concerns regarding the true state of the current economy and if it is actually strong enough to recover from the eurozone crisis. Economists who have been observing the progress of the UK economy did not expect any change in the interest rates of the country.

The interest rates in the UK have been at 0.5 percent since March 2009.

There was no announcement from the Bank of England that they will have an increase in their plans for quantitative easing. Last October, the Bank of England said that they will inject £75 billion into the UK economy.

The Bank of England had previously done quantitative easing as they injected £200 billion into the economy through asset purchases from March 2009 to February 2010.

According to Ian McCafferty who is the chief economic adviser of the CBI employers’ group, “Developments in the eurozone remain the key risk to the UK’s economic prospects. While there are encouraging signs that progress will be made at this week’s summit, it’s clear that the situation is at a critical juncture.”

There have been speculations that the Bank of England will try to inject the £75 billion until February of next year.

However, economists are expecting that there might be an additional £50 billion or more of quantitative easing in the early months of 2012.