MPC

The pound has fallen to a three-month low against the dollar ahead of a Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee meeting today, the first of 2012.

Members of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted unanimously to hold rates at their historic low and maintain the quantitative easing (QE) programme at £275bn - but they indicated more QE could be on the way.

The UK will take five and a half years to recover to pre-recession levels, said Bank of England external MPC member Martin Weale in a speech today to the National Institute of Social and Economic Research (NIESR).

The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee voted unanimously in favour of keeping bank rate at a record low of 0.5% and maintaining QE at current levels, while warning inflation is unlikely to fall as fast as expected.

The Bank of England (BoE) has kept interest rates at the historic low of 0.5% for the 33rd straight month, and held fire on additional quantitative easing measures after pumping an extra £75bn into the facility last month.

The deputy governor of the Bank of England has revealed how the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) nearly raised rates earlier this year, before the downturn hit markets.

The risk of another UK recession is higher now than in recent months, according to Bank of England policymaker Martin Weale, who expects the economy to contract in the final quarter of 2011.

Bank of England governor Mervyn King has been asked by the Treasury Select Committee to explain his decision to inject a further £75m into the UK economy through quantitative easing (QE).

The Monetary Policy Committee(MPS) voted unanimously for an additional £75bn of quantitative easing at its latest meeting.

Speculation is mounting the Bank of England may be close to cutting base rates to 0.25% and pumping at least £50bn more into the economy through quantitative easing.