The meeting, held on 6 and 7 February, saw the Bank of England keep QE on hold at £375bn – however minutes revealed a split among the committee members.

Sterling slumped on this news, dropping by more than a cent against the dollar to fall below $1.53 for the first time since June 2012.

The pound also fell to a 15-month low against the euro, hitting 87.65p per euro.

The MPC suggested the precipitous decline in sterling seen since the start of 2013 is proving “expansionary” for the UK.

However, the minutes struck a downbeat tone on the overall state of the UK economy, revealing the committee again considered the benefits of cutting the base rate of interest to below 0.5%.

Last year, King said the MPC would think hard before increasing QE, although he added it was ready to pull the trigger if necessary.

MPC members in favour of QE argued that further bond purchases could help rebalance the economy, in part by acting to reduce longer-term interest rates.