Bank to stick with programme

Thursday’s decision will be the first for new rate-setter Ian McCafferty, who joins the nine-member Monetary Policy Committee from the Confederation of British Industry.

However, the market may have to wait until the minutes of the meeting are published on September 19 to find out how his arrival influences the discussion.

While observers are uncertain where to place Mr McCafferty on the traditional spectrum of policy hawks and doves, his previous more upbeat comments about Britain’s economy make it unlikely that he will demonstrate the same drive for ultra-loose policy Posen showed over his three years as an external policymaker.

The central bank is halfway through a four-month plan for £50bn of gilt purchases to boost the recession-hit economy, and last month Governor Mervyn King said new economic forecasts showed no urgent need for extra stimulus.

“The Bank has made it pretty clear that the quantitative easing programme is going to run through until the November meeting,” Commerzbank economist Peter Dixon said.

A Bank report last week suggested that the main winners from quantitative easing have been the country’s richest people.

Some MPs, pension fund managers and lobby groups claim it has hurt pensioners’ and savers’ incomes because it pushed down interest rates.