Mubasher: The Bank of England (BoE) on Thursday held its benchmark interest rates.

The majority of the nine rate-setters at the BoE’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted 6-3 in favour of maintaining the key rate at 0.5%.

The decision comes as inflation has slowed down to 2.4%, while staying above the UK central bank’s 2% target.

"Inflation is expected to pick up by slightly more than projected in May in the near term, reflecting higher dollar oil prices and a weaker sterling exchange rate," the UK's central bank said in a statement.

In addition, the MPC said that the volume of bond purchase programme was maintained at GBP 435 billion ($502.12 billion).

Moreover, the BoE projects “very gradual” future increases in the key interest rate.

By 11:38 am GMT, the GBP/USD pair went up 0.34% to $1.3217, while the EUR/GBP pair fell 0.58% to GBP 0.8734.