Both the Bank of England and the European Central Bank (ECB) have decided to keep their respective base interest rates on hold.

It is the seventh successive month interest rates have been at 0.5% for the Bank of England, which also announced a continuation of it’s quantitive easing programme of putting £175bn into the economy, which it said would likely take another month to complete.

Whilst there are tentative signs of a recovery in the economy, including house prices, for the UK, policy makers are adopting a cautious approach.

Europe
Meanwhile, the Eurozone economies continue to enjoy a record low interest rate of 1.0%. While some countries are showing signs of recovering, the overall value of the euro, which has gone up by 18% against the dollar since February is placing that recovery in jeopardy.

Exports in the eurozone would be affected by a strong euro and ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet, said today that the eurozone was “stabilising” and was “expected to recover at a gradual pace” but warned that “uncertainty remains high”.