LONDON, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Bank of England (BoE) has voted to hold its benchmark interest rate at 5 percent, the United Kingdom's (UK) central bank said in a statement on Thursday.
At its meeting ending on Wednesday, the BoE's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted by a majority of 8-1 to leave the rate on hold. One member preferred to reduce the rate by 0.25 percentage points to 4.75 percent.
According to the statement, the BoE expected the UK economy to grow by around 0.3 percent per quarter in the second half of the year.
Latest data showed the UK inflation was 2.2 percent in August, unchanged from July and still above BoE's 2 percent target. The inflation is expected to increase to around 2.5 percent towards the end of this year, said the BoE. ■