BOE leaves 2 key policies alone

LONDON, Aug. 2 (UPI) -- The Bank of England said Thursday that it would keep two key monetary policies in place, including holding the overnight lending rate at 0.5 percent.

The BOE also said it would continue with a $583 billion asset purchasing program.

The BOE said the asset purchases, which were first announced in March 2009, would "take another three months to complete." In the meantime, the bank said, "The scale of the program will be kept under review."

The central bank does not explain its policy decisions directly, but releases minutes of the policy meeting three weeks after meetings are held.

The bank also said its inflation and output projections would be available in its Inflation Report, which will be released Aug. 8.