The Bank of England said Thursday that it would keep its overnight lending rate at 0.5 percent. The BOE also said it would continue with a $583 billion asset purchasing program. The BOE said the asset purchases, which were first announced in March 2009, would take two more months to complete. In the meantime, the bank said, \"The scale of the program will be kept under review.\" The central bank does not explain its policy decisions on the day they are announced, but releases minutes of the policy meeting three weeks after decisions are made public.