With Britain on recession brink, BoE freezes interest at record-low 0.5%

The Bank of England on Friday froze interest rates at a record-low 0.50 per cent, where borrowing costs have stood for four years, and maintained its emergency stimulus programme as the British economy teeters on the brink of a triple-dip recession.The announcement came on the same day that Prime Minister David Cameron pledged that his coalition government would stick to its harsh austerity measures despite a turbulent few weeks that saw Britain lose its top-level AAA credit rating.The panel also decided against changing its asset purchasing programme, or quantitative easing (QE), which stands at $589 billion.