BoE leave rates alone for now

The Bank of England (BoE) has decide to hold its benchmark interest rate at 4%, deciding against a third increase since November.

Experts were divided over whether the Bank of England would bring forward a May interest rate hike after some mixed recent data on the health of the British economy.

Analysts now are saying that the BoE may have chosen to delay a rate increase until its next official round of forecasts for inflation and growth in May.

The BoE hiked rates in November and February, each time by a quarter point, in an effort to address rapidly growing consumer debt and house prices.

However, recent figures from the UK's main mortgage lenders have shown house price growth accelerating once again.

Not all sectors are showing growth though. The long awaited recovery in the manufacturing industry was thrown into doubt this week when output from the sector disappointed expectations with a fall of 0.6% in February from the previous month.

The EEF, the UK manufacturers' organisation, today welcomed the Bank of England's decision to leave interest rates on hold.

"Two rises in three months would have poured fuel on the fire of expectations of further rises to come, potentially pushing the pound to damaging levels against the dollar," said EEF chief economist Steve Radley.