"The U.K. data flow over the past month has been pretty good"
-James Knightley, an economist at ING Bank NV
The Bank of England during its monthly policy meeting decided to leave its stimulus programme unchanged and kept the main refinancing rate on hold, as the economy is showing signs of recovery. The nine-member Monetary Policy Committee kept the target for asset purchases at 375 billion pounds ($584 billion), meeting analysts' expectations, and held interest rates at 0.5%. No changes in the policy were expected as Britain's economy escaped falling into a triple-dip recession and expanded 0.3% in the first quarter of this year. In addition, recent data has suggested the UK economy is picking up.
"The U.K. data flow over the past month has been pretty good," said James Knightley, an economist at ING Bank NV in London. "We still feel that the recovery will be slow and the U.K. remains vulnerable to external shocks, particularly from the euro zone, so there is the potential for further stimulus."
In a separate report the Office for National Statistics said that the nation's industrial output increased 0.7% from February, when it gained 0.9%, as cold weather boosted demand for electricity and gas. Electricity and gas soared 2.4%, the most since October.
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