Interest rates have been frozen in March, following a meeting of the Bank of England''s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC).

The MPC chose to maintain the base rate of interest at 5.25 per cent, following a 0.25 percentage point reduction in February.

The decision to freeze interest rates was widely predicted by analysts but most also believe that further cuts will be announced in the coming months.

"I presume that this month the majority of MPC members judged that the most recent evidence of slowing economic activity needed to be balanced against both their expectation that activity would slow and that inflation indicators remain high," said Barry Naisbitt, chief economist at Abbey.

"I expect the balance of views to change as time passes, so that a further rate cut could be on the cards in the next couple of months," he continued.

The MPC''s next meeting will be on April 10th.