The Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee has once again voted to hold the Bank Rate at 0.5%.

It also decided to maintain the size of the Asset Purchase Programme (‘quantitative easing’) at £375 billion.

Barry Naisbitt, chief economist at Santander UK, said: “Recent economic news has been more positive – economic growth in the second quarter was stronger than in the first and confidence indicators are showing a bit of a revival. But output is still well below its pre–recession level and the unemployment rate has not shown any convincing signs of a sustained reduction.

“There has been considerable media attention on the new Bank of England Governor, Mark Carney, to see what changes he and the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) might make to monetary policy. With inflation at 2.9% and the MPC about to reveal its hand on the possibility of offering forward guidance on policy, the decision to hold Bank Rate and quantitative easing again this month was widely expected.

“There is greater interest in the August Inflation Report and press conference, where the forecasts for growth and inflation will be updated and possible changes to policy procedures will be outlined.”