Dr Ros Altmann, from Saga

by business editor Trevor Sturgess

Saga, the holiday and financial services group for the over-50s, has welcomed the Bank of England's decision not to create any more money.

The Monetary Policy Committee held the base rate at the historic low of 0.5% and said it would not add to the Quantitative Easing (QE).

Dr Ros Altmann, director-general of the Folkestone-based company, has repeatedly denounced the QE policy.

She says pumping cash into the economy has severely hit pensioners, slashing the value of annuities and savings interest rates.

So far, the Bank has injected £375bn into the economy through asset purchase, or QE.

Dr Altmann said: "I am very pleased the Bank has decided not to create any more new money. QE is a drastic policy experiment that may be valid for an economic emergency to avoid depression but we are clearly not in a depression."

But Andrew Smith, chief economist at KPMG, said the MPC was unlikely to remain inactive for long.

"Last month inflation resumed its downward trend and the headline rate remains on track to return to target next year," he said.

"Meanwhile talk of green shoots is premature - the economy continues to struggle and the output gap remains large. Against this background, expect another tranche of Quantitative Easing once the current one is completed and more extreme policy measures such as even lowering the interest rate further cannot be ruled out."