Britain's weak economic recovery is expected to lead the Bank of England to print £50bn more money in the coming weeks.
The Bank's Monetary Policy Committee is set to announce on Thursday that it is expanding its Quantitative Easing programme from £275bn to £325bn.
Several members of MPC (KOSDAQ: 050540.KQ - news) signalled at their January meeting that they would vote for a further round of QE this month.
City economists had thought the committee would approve a further £75bn of asset purchases this month, but services and manufacturing surveys have suggested that the economy performed slightly better than expected in the early weeks of this year.
George Buckley, a UK economist at Deutsche Bank (Xetra: 514000 - news) , the investment bank, said: "If sentiment and activity hold up this could even be the last round of QE, although the fragile nature of the recovery and the situation in Europe (Chicago Options: ^REURUSD - news) could mean the programme continues after May."
By buying up bonds owned by banks, the policy aims to give those institutions more money to lend to consumers and businesses, with the effect of boosting helping the recovery. Experts are divided over the policy's success.
The Government has been battered by grim economic news on several fronts in recent weeks. The total size of Britain's public sector debt passed the £1trillion for the first time and unemployment has continued to rise, reaching levels not seen for 17 years.
Most City forecasters believe the economy is currently in the second phase of a double-dip recession after the Office for National Statistics said the economy shrank by 0.2% in the final three months of last year.
Later this month, the Bank of England is expected to revise down its growth forecasts for this year and next.
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