LONDON (Reuters) The Bank of England voted to make no change to its monetary policy this month, in a widely expected decision as it waits to see how much growth next year suffers from UK public spending cuts and euro zone turmoil.

None of the more than 60 economists polled by Reuters last week expected the BoE’s Monetary Policy Committee to change the 0.5 percent interest rate and £200 billion ($317 billion) of quantitative easing that have been in place since February. Financial markets did not move after the decision.

“The economic news over the past month has been consistent with policy on hold,” said George Buckley, chief UK economist at Deutsche Bank.

Despite a debt bailout for neighbouring Ireland, the economic outlook for Britain has changed little since November’s MPC meeting and consumer price inflation has risen further above its two percent target to 3.2 percent.

Manufacturing activity has been strong following robust overall economic growth of 0.8 percent in the third quarter, though trade data yesterday was unexpectedly weak, casting doubt on the BoE’s hopes of an export-led recovery next year.

The central bank will not publish details of the MPC’s vote or discussion until December 22, but most economists expect a repeat of last month’s three-way policy split.

Most economists do not expect rates to rise until late 2011, and only see more printing of new money if looming government spending cuts cause a bigger-than-expected economic slowdown next year.