Bank of England to inject £50 billion into UK economy

The Bank of England will inject at least £50 billion into the economy, in a bid to stave off recession in Europe's second-largest economy  this week.

The move comes after the UK bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) injected £75 billion into the economy in October 2011.

The MPC is forecast to increase its quantitative easing (QE) programme by £50 billion to £325 billion, while it will also hold interest rates at record lows of 0.5 per cent.

As Britain looks to evade double-dip recession, Bank of England is likely to resume quantitative easing in a bid to lower borrowing costs, after a 0.2 per cent contraction of the economy in the last three months of 2011.

Industry experts had forecasted that the MPC would inject up to £75 billion, but revised down their figures after the economy showed improvement in January.

Markit/Cips surveys showed manufacturing returned to growth last month while the biggest signs of recovery came from the services sector, growing at its fastest pace for nine months, which has lead to economist believing that the chances of Britain suffering a double-dip recession have reduced significantly.