Bank chief raises prospect of more QE
- Julia Docker
- Feb 20, 2013
- 1 min read
The latest Monetary Policy Committee minutes from the Bank of England show Governor Sir Meryvn King wanted further economic stimulus in the form of quantitative easing.
Along with two of his colleagues on the MPC, King voted for an extension to the Bank of England asset purchase programme, which currently stands at £375bn.
Whilst outvoted on this occasion, investment markets have seen his vote as increasing the likelihood of further QE in 2013.
The FTSE 100 index of leading UK company shares reached a new recent high of 6,400 during trading this morning.
The news has also resulted in a further weakening of Pound Sterling against other major currencies, including the US Dollar and Euro.
If the vote had gone in favour of Sir Mervyn and his two colleagues, Paul Fisher and David Miles, it would have increased the total size of the asset purchase programme to £400bn.
There was a consensus on the decision to maintain interest rates at their record low of 0.5% this month.
Photo credit: Flickr/Bank of England