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Bank of England to start 2013 on sidelines as economy scrapes by
The Bank of England is likely to withhold fresh monetary stimulus at the start of the new year, with economic news still not bleak enough to trump worries about stubborn inflation. Last month the BoE voted 8-1 against extending its 375 billion pound ($601 billion) programme of bond purchases, and none of the 60 economists polled by Reuters over the past week expect a policy change after the Monetary Policy Committee concludes its monthly meeting on Thursday. Interest rates are also forecast to remain at their record-low 0.5 percent until at least July 2014. "I don't think that we've seen anything to ... (full story)