Bank of England holds rate at 5% Published: 05/09/2008

The Bank of England voted to freeze interest rates once again when it met yesterday (Thursday).

It was the fifth month in a row that the Bank's rate-setting group - the monetary policy committee - has chosen to keep rates at five per cent.

The last cut was of a quarter of a per cent in April this year, but the monetary policy committee – as widely expected – chose to keep rates at the same level.

The decision came despite the fact that many analysts had been urging the Bank to cut interest rates in order to help boost consumer activity in the economy.

Commenting on the decision, Howard Archer, chief economist at Global Insight, said: "It now seems a question of when, rather than will, the Bank of England cut rates.

"The monetary policy committee has clearly become markedly more concerned about the current state of the economy and the growth outlook in recent weeks, acknowledging that recession is very possible."

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