The Bank of England has announced interest rates will remain unchanged for another month.

The monetary policy committee ended its two-day meeting on Thursday and confirmed City expectations that rates would stay at 3.75 per cent.The most recent change was a quarter-point increase in November last year.

At their last meeting, eight committee members voted for rates to stay unchanged and one voted for a quarter per cent rise.

Minutes of their discussion, released by the Bank, revealed concern that credit card borrowing growth remained strong.

Their concern was supported by figures released this week revealed shoppers ran up debts of £12 billion on their credit cards over Christmas.

"The use of credit cards is considerably higher than it was four years ago and similarly, debts have doubled in the same period," said Richard Thompson, an analyst with PricewaterhouseCoopers.

December's boom in the high street continues the nation's trend for heavy use of credit cards.

Elsewhere, continued weakness of the dollar against both Sterling and the euro was thought to be one factor contributing to a decision to leave rates on hold.