December 6, 2002	Friday	Shawwal 1,1423

LONDON, Dec 5: The Bank of England announced on Thursday its policymakers had agreed to leave the central bank’s main lending rate unchanged at a 38-year low point of 4.0 per cent for the 13th month in a row.

The central bank’s nine-member monetary policy committee gave no explanation for its decision which had been expected by economists after recent data indicated the British economy may be pulling clear of the threat of recession.

Official figures released last week showed the British economy expanded at the comparatively healthy rate of 0.8 per cent in the three months to September, compared with the previous quarter, leaving output in the period up 1.8 per cent from a year earlier.

Analysts said while concerns about weak global growth meant the bank was unlikely to rush into raising rates, it was looking increasingly unlikely there would be any further reduction.

“We don’t think interest rates in the UK are going to be changing for quite a while,” said Standard Chartered economist David Mann.

“Any pressure that there may have been to cut would have been purely from the soft external environment and really if we do see a cut from the ECB (European Central Bank), given that we’ve had the Fed cutting not that long ago, then that will deal with that,” Mann added.

The European Central Bank is widely expected to slash its main lending rate by 0.50 points to 2.75 per cent later Thursday in an effort to reinvigorate the euro zone economy.

And Federal Reserve policymakers slashed the key US interest rate by half a percentage point to 1.25 per cent to boost a flagging economy at the beginning of November.

Financial markets showed a muted reaction to the decision.—AFP