The Bank of England has ended its controversial quantitative easing scheme.
The programme, which was designed as a way of shocking the UK into recovery, saw the Bank of England pump £200 billion directly into the economy. All of the money set aside for the scheme has now been spent, and the Bank has revealed it will not be asking the Treasury for permission to print more.
In a statement the Bank said the existing money would "continue to impart a substantial monetary stimulus through the economy for some time to come." It said it would consider "further purchases", but that these would depend on the climate.
At the same time the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) announced that interest rates would remain unchanged at their historic low of 0.5 per cent. This represents the 11th consecutive month at this rate.
It is thought that rates will remain low for some months yet, in an effort to avoid derailing the tentative growth seen during the last quarter of 2009.
