LONDON: The Bank of England said it had voted to leave its main interest rate at a record-low 0.50 percent as the country balances negative inflation and weak growth.

The nine-member Monetary Policy Committee also maintained the central bank’s level of cash stimulus pumping around the British economy at £375 billion ($578 billion, 510 billion euros).

Reasons behind the widely-expected decisions will be contained in minutes of the regular policy meeting due June 17.

“The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee at its meeting on 3 June voted to maintain Bank Rate at 0.5 percent,” the BoE said in a brief statement.

“The Committee also voted to maintain the stock of purchased assets financed by the issuance of central bank reserves at £375 billion.”

Britain’s economy faced a sharp slowdown in the first quarter of 2015, halving its growth rate from the previous three months, according to recent official data.

British inflation has meanwhile sunk into negative territory for the first time in more than half a century, sparking fears of deflation or prolonged falling prices.

“The Bank of England has left monetary policy unchanged as universally expected given the fact that inflation is in negative territory and growth was a disappointing 0.3 percent quarter-on-quarter,” ING Bank analyst James Knightley said Thursday.