By Marcus Leach
Despite there being a new governor at the Bank of England there has been no change on interest rates.
Mark Carney took over from Mervyn King this week and cast his first vote at a monetary policy committee (MPC) meeting, but the Bank's policy on rates and quantitative easing remained unchanged.
The MPC members once again held the interest rate at 0.5%, whilst opting against any fresh stimulus for the economy in terms of quantitative easing, which remained at £375 billion.
“Mark Carney wasted no time in stamping his authority as the new Governor of the Bank of England by providing far more content and colour alongside the monthly release of the Monetary Policy Committee’s decision on interest rates and quantitative easing," Jason Gaywood, director of corporate services at HiFX, said.
“Traditionally, little information around the MPC’s thinking was shared until two weeks after the meeting when the minutes were released. In a break from tradition, Carney has flooded the Bank of England website with the reasoning behind maintaining the current level of QE and the holding of UK interest rates at 0.5% .
“It would appear that, despite signs of a broad recovery with several surveys showing increased business optimism coupled with the news that house prices are on the up to the tune of 3.7% since the same period in 2012, the ‘ultra low’ interest rate regime which has been with us since March 2009 shows no immediate signs of being tightened.
“Sterling dropped by as much as two cents or nearly 1.5% immediately after the release.”
