THE Bank of England has decided against raising the scale of monetary stimulus for the troubled UK economy for now, in what observers believe is likely to have been a close call.

At the end of its latest two-day monthly meeting yesterday, the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee held UK base rates at their record low of 0.5% and maintained the scale of its quantitative easing (QE) programme at £375 billion.

QE is aimed at stimulating economic activity by boosting money supply through the purchase of Government and corporate bonds, using central bank reserves.

At the MPC's February meeting, Bank Governor Sir Mervyn King and fellow committee members Paul Fisher and David Miles voted unsuccessfully for an immediate £25bn increase in QE to £400bn.

The MPC voted six-three last month to hold QE. The split of yesterday's vote will be revealed on March 20, with publication of minutes of the latest meeting.

Stephen Boyle, head of group economics at Royal Bank of Scotland, said: "A change in the Bank Rate was always unlikely, but the decision not to turn the QE printing press back on is likely to have been a close call.

"With a split vote last month and terrible survey results for manufacturing and construction activity in February, questions will be asked about how bad the outlook has to get before the Bank of England switches into action."

UK gross domestic product fell by 0.3% in the fourth quarter of last year.

Further contraction in the opening three months of 2013 would see the UK record its third recession since 2008.