Investing.com - The Bank of England kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged and announced no change to its asset purchase facility program, it said on Thursday.
The BOE said it was holding the benchmark interest rate at 0.50%, in a widely expected move. The rate has been held at that level since March 2009.
The central bank also said it was to maintain the stock of asset purchases financed by the issuance of central bank reserves at £375 billion.
Minutes from the meeting showed that the Monetary Policy Committee voted 8-1 to keep rates on hold, with Ian McCafferty voting in favor of a hike in the benchmark rate to 0.75%.
All nine members were in favor of making no changes to the central bank's £375 billion asset-purchase program.
According to the minutes, the path interest rates will follow over the next few years will depend on economic circumstances.
Most market players expect the BOE to begin slowly raising interest rates in mid-2016.
GBP/USD was trading at 1.5327 from around 1.5343 ahead of the announcement, while EUR/GBP was at 0.7371 from 0.7360 earlier.