Bank of England says keeps interest rate at 0.50%

London: The Bank of England voted on Thursday to maintain its key interest rate at a record-low level of 0.50 percent.

The central bank`s nine-member monetary policy committee (MPC) decided also to keep the level of its cash stimulus, or quantitative easing, at £375 billion ($602 billion, 474 billion euros), the BoE said in a statement issued after a monthly meeting.

"The Bank of England`s MPC ... today voted to maintain bank rate at 0.5 percent," it said in the statement.

"The Committee also voted to maintain the stock of purchased assets financed by the issuance of central bank reserves at £375 billion."

Minutes from this week`s meeting, containing reasons behind the decisions, will be published on November 19.