The Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has voted once again to keep interest rates on hold at their historic low of 0.5%.
The rate decision came shortly after data earlier this week suggesting a slowdown in manufacturing, construction and services.
With the UK economic recovery still very weak, the Bank is unlikely to move on interest rates, despite continued concerns about the high levels of price inflation.
The MPC also kept their asset purchase programme on hold today. This means no further quantitative easing to stimulate the economy.
We will have to wait for a couple of weeks to see how members of the MPC voted today.
At their meeting last month, three of the nine members voted for an interest rate rise. If the minutes, when published, show that a fourth member joined the votes for higher interest rates, this could signal that we are getting closer to a time when rates will start going up.
We continue to believe that interest rates will remain lower for longer than is widely expected.
With the economic recovery remaining weak and many of the factors causing higher price inflation of a temporary or imported nature, a rate rise now risks damaging the economy whilst doing little if anything to cool inflation.
