The Bank of England has kept interest rates at 0.5% for a fifth month running.

The Bank of England has also decided to inject £50 billion of new money into the economy to stimulate growth.

This will take its total spending to £175bn which will take spending over the £150bn set aside by the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

The Bank of England said the recession “appears to have been deeper than previously thought”.

In a statement the Bank of England said: “The world economy remains in recession, though there have been increasing signs that output in the UK’s main export markets is stabilising.

“Financial market strains have eased and banks’ funding conditions have improved a little, although financial conditions remain fragile. Household and business confidence has picked up, albeit from the very low levels experienced in the wake of the financial crisis last autumn.”