9 February 2007
The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has decided to keep interest rates at 5.25% for the next month.
Yesterday's decision follows three base rate rises of 0.25% in the last six months, the most recent of which was announced in January.
Barry Naisbitt, Chief Economist at Abbey, commented: "Having surprised financial markets and commentators by raising rates to a five-year high in January, it seems likely that the members of the Monetary Policy Committee might have wanted to pause to see what effects their pre-emptive strike had."
Alliance & Leicester's Mehrdad Yousefi added that the Bank of England rate freeze would be "a welcome relief to borrowers", but that it was "a mere delay of an inevitable further rate rise".
"It is crucial that borrowers assess what impact any possible future base rate rises could have on their finances," he added.
The minutes of the latest MPC meeting will be released on February 21st.
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