Bank of England policymakers voted unanimously to keep their asset purchase programme at 175 billion pounds in September, but those who had wanted more in August still felt they had a case, their minutes showed on Wednesday.
All nine policymakers also voted to hold interest rates at 0.5 percent and did not think there had been enough major economic developments to warrant any change to the 50 billion pound expansion of quantitative easing agreed in August.
"For those members who had preferred a larger stimulus at the August meeting, a larger asset purchase programme could still be justified," the minutes said.
"But in the absence of significant news about the medium term the case for adjusting the policy now was outweighed by the benefits of following through with the programme of asset purchases announced in August."
Three policymakers, Governor Mervyn King, Timothy Besley and David Miles, had wanted to increase QE to a total of 200 billion pounds in August. Besley's term on the Monetary Policy Committee ended that month and he was replaced by U.S. academic Adam Posen in September.
"The minutes note the recent improvements in the economic and financial data, but still leave the door open to further policy loosening," said Vicky Redwood of Capital Economics.
Gilt and short sterling interest rate futures dipped after the minutes, which gave no indication that policymakers had discussed cutting the remuneration rate of commercial banks' deposits with the BoE — an issue raised by King last week in testimony to parliament.
"There does not seem to have been any discussion about cutting the rate paid on banks' reserves — suggesting that any loosening, at least in the near term, will take the form of extra QE," Redwood added.
Policymakers said the near-term downside risks to growth had lessened over the month and inflation was likely to be higher in the short term than they had thought a month ago.
However, the medium-term inflation outlook had not really changed because of the large amount of spare capacity in the economy.
"Even if GDP had turned positive in Q3, it was unlikely to have reached the point where the level of spare capacity was shrinking. Unemployment continued to rise and was likely to continue increasing for some time."
Policymakers felt that rising asset prices and the weaker pound — as well as lower gilt yields, market interest rate expectations and interbank lending rates — would help support nominal spending in due course.
They noted that their preferred measure of broad M4 money supply growth, excluding the holdings of financial intermediaries, had picked up slightly on a three-month basis in July. But bank lending to consumers and companies fell in July.
"Weak credit demand was likely to have been a factor, but so too was restricted supply," the minutes said.
Policymakers also warned that past financial crises had not been resolved quickly and there was a risk of a false dawn.
"High levels of public debt internationally and the persistence of global imbalances remained downside risks to the sustainability of the recovery."
