Bank of England holds off more stimulus

LONDON (AP): The Bank of England kept its key interest rate on hold Thursday amid rising optimism over the British economy’s prospects later this year in the wake of the rapid rollout of coronavirus vaccines.

In a statement accompanying its decision, the ba-nk’s rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee said the economy is “projected to recover rapidly towards pre-COVID levels over 2021, as the vaccination p-rogramme is assumed to lead to an easing of COV-ID-related restrictions and people’s health concerns.”

The decision to keep policy unchanged was unanimous among the committee’s nine members.