MPC unanimous over monetary policy

The cost of borrowing may be set to remain low for the foreseeable future after the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) again voted unanimously to hold the base rate at 0.5 per cent.

In addition to this, the nine members were also united in the view that the asset purchasing scheme should stay at £200 billion.

The minutes stated: "Fundamentally, the economic outlook had changed little over the past few months," a statement that may reinforce the likelihood that the status quo will not alter any time soon.

Such a view may be unaffected by recent increases in consumer prices index (CPI) inflation, as these have been seen by the MPC as being the result of short-term factors.

This view that current upward pressures are "temporary" was stated in this month's quarterly inflation report and by governor of the Bank Mervyn King in his open letter to the chancellor this week that he was required to write after CPI rose above three per cent.