LONDON, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Bank of England (BoE), Britain's central bank, maintained its benchmark interest rate at record low of 0.5 percent, BoE announced on Thursday.

　　At BoE's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting ending on Jan. 13, the MPC voted by a majority of 8-1 to maintain the rates unchanged.

　　The committee voted unanimously to maintain the stock of purchased assets financed by the issuance of central bank reserves at 375 billion pounds (540 billion U.S. dollars), and so to re-invest the 8.4 billion pounds of cash flows associated with the redemption of the January 2016 gilt held in the Asset Purchase Facility.

　　The MPC sets monetary policy in order to meet the 2 percent inflation target and in a way that helps to sustain growth and employment.

　　According to its meeting summary, 12-month CPI inflation rose to 0.1 percent in November, and is likely to rise modestly further in the coming months as some of the large falls in energy and food prices a year earlier drop out of the annual comparison.