Published by Zeb BhamThe Bank of England may this week announce a temporary halt to its £200 billion quantitative easing (QE) programme, analysts predict.A median survey of 51 forecasters carried out by Bloomberg News has shown that the bank will pause the programme for the first time since it was introduced last March when it meets on Thursday (February 4th).The group is also expected to keep interest rates at a 315-year low of 0.5 per cent, with many sceptical that the Monetary Policy Committee will pledge to remove QE entirely due to the fragility of the recovery process.Patrick Minford, a former advisor to Margaret Thatcher, told the news provider: "[Removing QE] could be quite risky, particularly when governments are going to be taking rebalancing action on fiscal policy. The issue is whether the economy is strong enough to take withdrawal of quantitative easing."For more information on international payments, visit our Smart FX site