David Miles was the sole member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee to seek more stimulus for the economy at the May meeting, although many members felt that the decision not to beef up the quantitative easing was 'finely balanced.'
Nonetheless, members kept the door open for more quantitative easing if situation demands.
Governor Mervyn King and seven other members voted to maintain the size of the central bank's quantitative easing at GBP 325 billion, the minutes of the meeting showed Wednesday. Meanwhile, David Miles sought a GBP 25 billion increase, which would have taken the total to GBP 350 billion.
All nine of the members voted to hold the interest rate at a record low 0.50 percent. The meeting was held on May 9 and 10.
For several members, the decision not to expand the asset purchase programme at this meeting was finely balanced. According to Miles, the balance of risks already warranted a further expansion of the asset purchase programme this month.
Members said that the MPC would continue to monitor the outlook each month and further monetary stimulus could be added if the outlook warranted it.
The committee observed that the existing stock of asset purchases together with the low level of interest rate would continue to provide substantial stimulus to the economy for some time to come.
Capital Economics' economist Samuel Tombs is of the view that weakness in the domestic economy and the intensifying crisis in the euro-zone will persuade the MPC to undertake more QE before long.
Yesterday, the International Monetary Fund urged U.K. policymakers to consider further monetary easing.
"There was a case for injecting further monetary stimulus" this month, the committee said. Members see possibilities of risks from debt crisis weighing more heavily than expected on business and consumer confidence.
"The best collective judgement of the Committee was that CPI inflation was about as likely to be above the target as below it in the medium term without further monetary stimulus," the minutes showed. This suggests that no further asset purchases were necessary at this point, it said.
Inflation fell to 3 percent in April from 3.5 percent in March, the lowest since December 2009, when the rate was 2.9 percent.
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