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bank of england to hold base rate at 0.5 percent
The Bank of England has held interest rates at 0.5% for the twelfth consecutive month.
The decision was widely expected by economists, who believe that any rise in the cost of borrowing could damage the UK's fragile economic recovery.
Figures released last week showed that the UK economy grew by 0.3% in the final three months of 2009, compared with an initial estimate of 0.1% growth.
The October to December period was the first quarter of growth following six consecutive quarters of economic decline - the longest period since comparable figures were first recorded in 1955.
Hannah-Mercedes Skenfield, mortgage expert at Moneysupermarket, said: “There have been some positive signs in the mortgage market over the last 12 months. We saw the number of available mortgage products fall below the 2000 mark in 2009 but we have seen a steady increase since with numbers in excess of 2700 which shows that the recovery in the market is in place.”
