MPC

Market participants are expecting interest rates in the UK to remain on hold until late 2014, according to Bank of England policymakers.

The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has increased its quantitative easing programme by £50bn as it looks to shore up the UK's ailing economy.

The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) once again voted unanimously to maintain interest rates at 0.5% and keep the quantitative easing (QE) programme at £275bn in January, despite fears inflation may fall below target levels.

Fears we are facing a period of prolonged inflation are "unfounded", said Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) member Adam Posen, speaking on a day when UK inflation dropped sharply.

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.