The bank's decision to leave policy steady before the arrival next month of King's successor - former Canadian central bank chief Mark Carney - was widely expected by economists, as recent data suggests Britain's recovery is gathering strength.
"While the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC (KOSDAQ: 050540.KQ - news) ) hopefully gave Sir Mervyn King a nice leaving present, this did not include the further monetary stimulus that he has been asking for since February," said Howard Archer, chief UK economist at IHS Global Insight.
How King cast his final vote - after attending every MPC meeting since the Bank gained independence in 1997 - will not be confirmed until minutes of the meeting are published on June 19.
Since February he and two other members of the nine-member committee have voted at each meeting for an extra 25 billion pounds of bond purchases on top of the 375 billion pounds' worth bought from March