Analysts are forecasting that the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will announce a £50 billion extension to its controversial quantitative easing programme later today (November 5th).The median result of 48 forecasts collected by Bloomberg suggests that the MPC will increase the asset-purchase initiative to £225 billion, £75 billion above the initial cap for the project set in place by chancellor Alistair Darling in last year's Budget.Neil Mackinnon, an economist at VTB Capital and a former Treasury official, said the committee has little choice but to "throw money" at the economy."The fact of the matter is that the UK economy is lagging behind. As to whether quantitative easing is working, the jury is still out," he commented.The Financial Times is also reporting that a £50 billion extension of the QE programme will be the likely outcome of the monthly talks, although the decision is not expected to be unanimous.