Britain's richest 5% gained most from quantitative easing, says Bank of England
The richest 5% of Britons have been the biggest winners from the Bank of England's attempts to lift the economy out of recession by creating electronic money, the Bank has said.
But in a defence of the £375bn programme of asset sales since 2009, the Bank said that quantitative easing had spared the UK from an even deeper slump.
"Without the Bank's asset purchases, most people in the UK would have been worse off," it said in a paper prepared in response to queries from the Commons Treasury committee.
The Bank's strategy has been criticised by groups representing savers and pensioners because of its impact on interest rates, annuity rates and gilt yields, but Threadneedle Street was unrepentant.
full: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/aug/23/britains-richest-gained-quantative-easing-bank