The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has held fire on its quantitative easing (QE) programme and kept interest rates at their historical low of 0.5%.
Its decision to hold rates at 0.5%, where they have remained since March 2009, comes as the CPI measure of inflation registered 4.8% in November 2011 - more than double the Bank's target. The MPC, which was widely expected to hold interest rates for the 34th consecutive month, maintained its asset purchase programme at £275bn but economists have pencilled in a further round of QE in February amid the ongoing Eurozone debt crisis. Minutes from the MPC's December meeting indicated a further round of QE could be imminent. The last time the Bank extended its quantitative easing program...
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