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UK interest rates held at 0.5% for third year

UK interest rates have been held at 0.5% by the Bank of England, marking three years since rates were first cut to the record low.

Many analysts expect rates to remain at that level for at least another year.
The monetary policy committee (MPC) also decided to make no change to its quantitative easing (QE) programme.
QE is the bank's scheme to boost the economy by buying bonds. Last month the bank boosted spending on it by £50bn, taking the total stimulus to £325bn.

The BoE started its QE programme, which buys mainly government-issued bonds in an attempt to free-up cash for lending, in 2009.

Ian McCafferty, chief economic adviser at the CBI business group, said: "Since the MPC has been signalling that the current policy stance is broadly appropriate, it appears that the economic climate would have to deteriorate to prompt a further extension of QE.

"Nevertheless, with economic conditions fragile and the level of uncertainty high, monetary policy decisions are still likely to be finely-balanced," he said.

QE has been criticised by the pension industry. Earlier on Thursday, the National Association of Pension Funds said the policy had reduced the value of final-salary pension schemes by a further £90bn.
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