London - The Bank of England Thursday slashed interest rates to an historic low of 1.5 per cent in a further effort to soften the impact of a deepening recession.

The decision to cut rates by half a percentage point by the bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) brings borrowing costs below 2 per cent for the first time since the BoE was founded in 1694.

The move came hard on the heels of a drastic rate cut in December. (dpa)