To get a glimpse into the future of the UK economy one can simply take a look at the latest Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee’s (MPC) minutes from their last monthly meeting.  The minutes were recently released to reveal the tone of the MPC in their October meeting and there seems to be some division among the members.  This is a contrast to the last few months when there was a strong front among all for the main decisions of leaving the standard base interest rate unchanged and holding off from more quantitative easing (QE) for the time being.

The latest minutes reveal that there were some difference of opinion as to the economic outlook and the need for more stimulus pumped into the economy.  This is an important issue as the current QE programme expires next month.  Some members do not view that further QE would be effective in boosting the growth of the economy.  Despite the doubt by some members there is a strong expectation among economists that November’s MPC meeting will result in another £25 billion at the minimum added to the total QE programme.

The minutes expressed a less than optimistic outlook with a change voiced from their August inflation report in which the MPC forecasted a slight growth in the economy.  The expectation is that the economy will remain flat to the end of the year.  Inflation is still expected to remain above the goal target of 2% throughout the end of the year.

Though not directly discussed in the minutes, the latest scheme to aid the housing and lending markets put forth by the government called the Funding for Lending programme is expected to continue to help lenders keep borrowing cheap for those needing a loan and it is hoped there will be more demand in both mortgaging and remortgaging lending along with more buyers in the housing market.

The end of the year may see the economy looking pretty much as it does today but in comparison to last year when there was a great threat of a double dip recession looming, that did occur, that may be good news and a better outlook than initially considered.