ECB, BoE leave interest rates at record low

VIENNA: The European Central Bank left interest rates at a record low after Europe’s sovereign debt crisis forced it to start buying government bonds.

Policy makers meeting in Frankfurt on Thursday kept the benchmark rate at 1%, as predicted by all but one of 59 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Also, the Bank of England kept its bond-stimulus programme in place and left its benchmark interest rate at a record low to aid the economy as PM David Cameron prepares the biggest budget cuts since at least the early 1980s.

The Monetary Policy Committee, led by governor Mervyn King, left the target for its bond holdings unchanged at £200 billion ($292 billion). The bank also kept the benchmark interest rate at 0.5%.