The ECB also raised its deposit rate by 25 basis points to 0.5pc, and increased its marginal lending rate by the same amount to 2pc.
ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet will talk about the reasoning behind the bank's decision at a news conference starting at 1.30pm London time.
Bank of England policymakers held rates despite a surge in inflation. The majority of the Monetary Policy Committee members continue to judge the economic recovery as too shaky to withstand higher rates.
They are betting that inflation of 4.4pc - more than double the target - will ease once oil and food prices come down.
Most economists were expecting the Bank of England to leave rates unchanged. Simon Ward, Henderson's chief economist, was the only one of 67 forecasters polled by Reuters to forecast a rates rise.
Howard Archer of IHS Global Insight said the decision "indicates that serious concerns and uncertainties over the growth outlook deterred the MPC from acting despite the pressure for higher interest rates coming from elevated and still rising consumer price inflation".
The MPC, which sets interest rates, said last month that a rise in oil prices, fanned by tension in the Middle East and North Africa, had increased risks to both inflation and growth.
Three of the nine MPC members voted to raise interest rates last month, but economist says there is little evidence so far that Britain's economy has enjoyed a strong rebound from the shock contraction at the end of 2010.
Economists believe this is needed to convince Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England, and the majority on the MPC that it is time to raise rates.
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