INSTANT VIEW - Bank raises QE to 200 billion, holds rates

LONDON (Reuters) - The Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee raised its quantitative easing programme by 25 billion pounds to 200 billion pounds, but left interest rates at 0.5 percent as expected.

Analysts had been evenly split between forecasting a 25 and 50 billion pound QE expansion.

Following are reactions from business groups and economists:

JAMES KNIGHTLEY, ING

"We suspect this will mark the last stimulus effort from the BoE with the next move being rate hikes, possibly starting in August after the BoE has assessed the impact from any potential fiscal policy changes in the wake of next year's election."

"We suggest rates may be raised a little more quickly that the market is pricing, but that the eventual peak will be relatively low at around 4 percent given a much tighter fiscal environment and the ongoing consumer headwinds of unemployment and deleveraging."

ROSS WALKER, RBS

"We were in the 25 billion pound camp, so that was broadly as expected. The tone of the statement was a little bit more upbeat than was the case in August at least in terms of the global recovery being led by emerging market economies.

"There was also acknowledgement that several domestic indicators were suggesting some pick-up so they may be a little bit less sceptical about some of the forward-looking surveys.