MPC still in wait and see mode

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is likely to wait for February’s Inflation Report before reviewing its asset purchase programme. Interest rates and the £200bn quantitative easing programme are therefore likely to be left unchanged at this week’s meeting. Nor does a change in the rate paid on banks’ deposits with the central bank seem imminent. But further policy support remains possible later this year, while we think that the stimulus already provided will remain in place for the foreseeable future.