Bank unanimous on March policy

Minutes of the MPC's March 3-4 meeting, published on Wednesday, showed all nine members agreed to keep interest rates at a record low of 0.5 percent and leave the 200 billion pound quantitative easing programme unchanged.

Although policymakers still expected the weak economy to bear down on inflation in the medium term, there were signs that some are starting to worry that it might not fall as quickly as they had hoped.

"Members drew different inferences about how the balance of risks to inflation was evolving," the minutes said. "Some members considered that the upside risks to inflation had increased slightly over the month; others felt that the balance of risks had not changed materially."

The minutes were in line with analysts' expectations and market attention was taken up by news of an unexpected fall in unemployment benefit claims.

Nonetheless, some analysts reckoned some on the MPC were now taking more account of the risk that inflation might not fall as fast as they had expected.

"You've got to be careful not to exaggerate it, as the differences are quite marginal, but there seems to be less unanimity," said Ross Walker, economist at RBS.

"I just wonder if they're preparing the ground for an escape route if they need it. I don't think anyone's too worried about where CPI peaks in Q1, it's more there's a focus on how quickly it falls back."

Inflation surged to 3.5 percent in January -- more than a full percentage point above the Bank's target and obliging Governor Mervyn King to explain the move in a public letter to the government.

PUBLIC EXPECTATIONS