Birmingham and Solihull business leaders expressed disappointment that the Bank of England's quantitative easing programme has come to a halt.

The decision was announced by the Monetary Policy Committee in today's statement that interest rates would remain at 0.5 per cent.   

The Bank has so far pumped £200 billion in newly-created money into the economy after finishing its latest round of assistance last week. Some economists predict that the Bank will keep the door open to more QE if the economy continues to struggle.

Will Rogers, policy advisor at Birmingham and Solihull Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCI), said: "Although the decision to bring the £200 billion programme to an end is not surprising, the economy is still fragile. A significant boost of another £25 billion would have encouraged further business investment.

"The economy has only just achieved a 0.1 per cent growth, when experts predicted it was expected to reach 0.4 per cent. There are signs of recovery, but they are fragile.  Manufacturing activity has recently hit a 15-year high but positive figures like this need to be sustained.  

"Now is the time for organic growth, which is not helped by placing additional pressures on business through rate increases."