The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has voted to maintain the official Bank Rate paid on commercial bank reserves at 0.5%.

The rate has now remained unchanged since March 2009.

The Committee also voted to maintain the stock of asset purchases financed by the issuance of central bank reserves (so-called quantitative easing) at £200 billion.

Simon Gammon, head of Knight Frank Finance, said the forthcoming election had a bearing on the decision.

He said: “Today’s decision by the Bank of England’s Monetary Committee to keep the base rate on hold at a record low of 0.5% comes as no surprise