The decision has been made against a backdrop of weak growth and high inflation in Britain, as well as an uncertain outlook for the eurozone.
It follows the surprise decision by the ECB to cut rates by a quarter percentage point to 1.25%.
Last month, the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) increased its quantitative easing programme by £75bn in a bid to boost the UK’s ailing economy. The move took its asset purchase programme to £275bn.
The latest figures for the UK show CPI inflation hit 5.2% in September, well above the Bank’s 2% target.
Barry Naisbitt, chief economist at Santander, said: “The slow pace of growth over the past year and the recent weakening in activity indicators, in the UK and in other economies, is of concern to the MPC. Attention will focus on the inflation report later this month to see how the Bank of England’s economic outlook has changed and whether that indicates the possibility of further quantitative easing to come.
“With inflation at 5.2%, there will also be considerable interest in how rapidly the Bank expects inflation to moderate over the coming year.”
Ben Thompson, managing director of Legal and General Mortgage Club, said: “It must be hard to see a completely clear view of the UK right now through the very dense fog that is euroland.
“This lack of clarity will have made it hard for the Bank to take any new steps or measures today and also it needs to assess the impact of last month’s round of QE before pressing the accelerator again.
“This is certainly a difficult period and the Bank will no doubt be watching events very closely indeed.”
