Interest rates stay at record low of 0.5%

The Bank of England has kept interest rates at record lows once more amid mounting gloom on the global economy and slowing UK growth.

Its decision to keep rates at 0.5% follows predictions earlier this week from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) that UK economic growth slowed to 2.2% last year from 2.9% in 2014.

Interest rates have now remained unchanged for more than six years.

The world economy also remains in a fragile condition, reflected by tumbling global stock markets last week after a run of poor economic data and interruptions to trading in Chinese stocks.

Plunging oil prices - touching below 30 US dollars for the first time in 12 years - have added to the market woes and will keep a lid on already low UK inflation, meaning there is little pressure on the Bank to raise borrowing costs.

The US Federal Reserve hiked rates in America last month for the first time in nearly a decade, as the US economy expanded strongly last year.

But Bank of England governor Mark Carney has already said a decision to raise rates in the US is ''not decisive'' for UK policymakers, stressing that any such move on these shores will be made according to UK economic conditions.