The Bank of England has released its first major statement about the success of its ongoing £75 billion quantitative easing programme.
According to the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), the scheme remains on course, making around £26 billion of purchases over its first month. The £75 billion is scheduled to have been spent in two months' time - although the Bank already has permission to expand the scheme by another £75 billion if deemed necessary.
Quantitative easing is employed by central banks to increase the flow of cash around an economy. The programme involves the Bank purchasing government bonds as well as corporate bonds - meaning that the institution is effectively printing new money.
The policy was introduced in response to the credit crunch, in order to encourage banks to offer cheaper loans to businesses and consumers by boosting the money supply.
David Kern, chief economist at the British Chambers of Commerce, indicated that he did not think the scheme was going perfectly. "Quantitative easing must be implemented in a more transparent way," he said.
"The Bank of England must spell out what rate of expansion in the money supply they are planning to achieve."
In today's announcement, the MPC also said that it was maintaining the Bank's lending rate at 0.5 percent.
