The Bank of England kept its benchmark interest rate at a record low as policy makers focus on the need to aid recovery, according to a Bloomberg report. The Monetary Policy Committee set the key rate at 0.5% for the 26th month and left its bond-purchase program at 200 billion pounds. Policy makers are under pressure to curb inflation that has soared to more than twice the central bank’s 2% target. Economists expect the ECB will announce its first rate increase since July 2008 later today.
