Thursday preview: Tricky decision for Bank of England

On Thursday, the Bank of England (BoE) will make its decision on interest rates and its asset purchase programme. Look out for flying pigs if the BoE changes its key interest rate, which has been at its historically lowest ever level since March 2009.

On Thursday, the Bank of England (BoE) will make its decision on interest rates and its asset purchase programme. Look out for flying pigs if the BoE changes its key interest rate, which has been at its historically lowest ever level since March 2009.

Most economists expect the BoE's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to stand pat on its asset purchase programme (quantitative easing). Economists at Barclays Capital (BarCap) believe that "the current asset purchase programme will take another two months to complete, and in the absence of a major shift in the economic outlook we think it unlikely that the MPC will adjust its stance before it meets in May. At that point, we expect a halt in asset purchases, but given the patchiness of the recovery, there remains a reasonable chance that quantitative easing (QE) will be extended further.

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