Bank of England

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%.

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.

INTEREST RATES

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.

Bank of England chief economist Spencer Dale has predicted inflation will fall to around 3% early next year and is confident the latest round of quantitative easing will prop up the economy.

UK CPI inflation fell from 5% to 4.8% in November, the Office for National Statistics said, in line with economists' forecasts.

ON EUROPE

The Bank of England has overestimated the impact of quantitative easing on gilt yields, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has said.

The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee has once again kept interest rates on hold at a record low and left QE unchanged at £275bn.

The Bank of England is readying emergency funds designed to protect the UK economy from "unexpected shocks".