BoE to decide today on extra £50bn QE boost - papers

The Bank of England today faces the difficult decision of whether to pump more money into the struggling UK economy by expanding its unprecedented £175bn quantitative easing programme.

Many City economists expect the Bank's monetary policy committee to increase the QE programme by between £25bn and £50bn when it finishes its two-day meeting at noon, in a renewed attempt to pull Britain out of recession.

Others, though, argue that QE should be left as it stands. Interest rates are set to stay at 0.5%, their lowest on record. See story...

Finance ministers from the world's leading economies will come under renewed pressure at their meeting in St Andrews this weekend to ensure that no nation will bring its fiscal and monetary stimulus to an end before "a durable recovery is secured", in the words of the G20 leaders' summit in Pittsburgh in September according to The Independent.

The Chancellor, Alistair Darling, will host the meeting, with ministers acting on agenda items set for them at the Pittsburgh summit - economic recovery and finding funds to tackle climate change.

The weather in Scotland may prove a suitable backdrop for a gathering that is likely to be overshadowed by the clouds of doubt gathering around the sustainability of recovery around the world, and fresh worries that asset bubbles are emerging in stock markets. See story...

City headhunters said they have been inundated with CVs from RBS bankers following the news that there would be no cash bonuses for 2009, reports The Telegraph.

In a letter sent to staff on Tuesday, Stephen Hester, chief executive, told RBS staff that there would be "tensions" around bonuses but stressed "we remain determined to pay fairly and competitively where performance so merits".

Even so, staff were angry about the terms that defer most bonus payments over three years. Staff earning more than £39,000 would receive 50% of their bonuses in 2010 in the form of shares or bonds and the rest deferred over the following two years. See story...