The Bank of England will probably expand its so-called quantitative easing program as the debt crisis in Europe impedes the U.K.’s return to growth.

The nine-member Monetary Policy Committee, led by Governor Mervyn King, will raise its target for bond purchases by 50 billion pounds ($78 billion) to 375 billion pounds, according to 30 of 41 economists in a Bloomberg news survey. Eight predict an increase to 400 billion pounds, and the rest see a smaller increase or no change.

King told reporters that Europe’s debt turmoil has stoked uncertainty and tightened credit availability, creating headwinds to Britain’s recovery from recession. Policy makers may find it easier to act next month than they did at their June 7 decision after inflation slowed to 2.8 percent, the closest to their 2 percent target since November 2009.
“Growth is weak and inflation has come down, so that adds to the case for doing more quantitative easing,” said George Buckley, an economist at Deutsche Bank AG in London. “This could be the end of it, provided things pick up as we expect, though that’s still an open question.”

Officials voted 5-4 to keep their bond-purchase target at 325 billion pounds at this month’s policy decision. That defeated a push by King, Adam Posen and David Miles for a 50 billion-pound expansion, and Markets Director Paul Fisher’s bid for 25 billion pounds.