The Bank of England voted against restarting its bond buying today and left interest rates at a record low of 0.5%, bringing to a close Governor Mervyn King's final Monetary Policy Committee meeting.
The decision to leave policy unchanged before the arrival next month of King's successor, former Canadian central bank chief Mark Carney, was widely expected by economists.
Recent data has suggested that Britain's recovery is gathering strength.
King, who is retiring from the bank after a 20-year career at the Bank of England, has argued since February, along with two other policymakers, for an extra £25 billion sterling of bond purchases to boost Britain's sluggish economic recovery.
But they look set to remain in the minority on the nine-member MPC, most of whom seem to have felt that signs of recovery in the British economy mean there is no need for extra stimulus now.
King's retirement from the bank this month will mark the end of an era. He has voted at every MPC meeting since the Bank of England became independent in 1997 and was a driving force behind the asset purchase policy also known as quantitative easing.
As usual, the Bank of England issued no statement alongside its decision, and voting records for the MPC's June 5-6 meeting will not be published until June 19.
Although recent private sector surveys support the BoE's forecast that economic growth will pick up to 0.5% during the current quarter, last month some officials said there was still more scope to boost demand without pushing up inflation.
Inflation fell more than expected to 2.4% in April, but it has been above its 2% target since December 2009.
The ECB also kept euro zone interest rates steady at a record low of 0.5% today.
