LONDON - Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said on Thursday that it was too soon to start thinking about cutting interest rates and he could not guarantee that borrowing costs had peaked.

"So my view at the moment is, it's really too early to start speculating about cutting interest rates. We've got to see more progress," Bailey told reporters shortly after the BoE kept interest rates at their 15-year high and stuck to its view that they would need to stay there for an extended period.

"I'm encouraged by the progress we've seen, don't get me wrong, I'm very encouraged by the progress we've seen. But it's too early to start speculating that we'll be cutting soon," Bailey added.

(Reporting by William Schomberg, Paul Sandle and Kylie MacLellan, Writing by William Schomberg)