MPC

Sir Mervyn King voted to increase quantitative easing by a further £25bn at February's Monetary Policy Committee meeting, latest minutes reveal.

The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee will tolerate missing the inflation target for the next two years in order to support the UK recovery, said Bank governor Mervyn King.

The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has said inflation may remain above the 2% target for the next two years, in part due to sterling weakness.

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted unanimously to hold the bank rate at 0.5% at the last meeting, while all but one member voted to maintain the QE programme at £375bn.

The imminent departure of Mervyn King from the Bank of England has brought about renewed debate over the framing of the policy target set by the Treasury for the Monetary Policy Committee.

Today the MPC left interest rates untouched for another month in a widely expected move, while leaving quantitative easing on hold, but calls for the Bank to take a more pro-active approach to boost growth are getting louder.

The Bank of England has held the base interest rate at 0.5%.

The minutes of the last Monetary Policy Committee meeting held on 7 and 8 November reveal David Miles was the only member calling for a boost to the Bank of England's quantitative easing programme.

The Bank of England still has the 'firepower' to boost the economy through another round of quantitative easing (QE), policymaker David Miles had said.

The Bank of England has kept interest rates on hold for the 44th consecutive month and refrained from launching a fresh round of quantitative easing after recent data showed the UK exited recession in the third quarter.