LONDON, Feb. 8 -- The governor of the Bank of England (BoE) warned on Thursday that interest rates would rise sooner than markets expected.
The warning from governor Mark Carney came as he delivered the quarterly BoE inflation report.
Governor Carney warned markets in a press conference to "expect that in order to return inflation sustainably to target ... it will probably be necessary to raise interest rates ... somewhat earlier and to a somewhat greater extent than we had thought in November."
At the time of the previous inflation report in November Carney had told markets to expect the era of loose monetary policy to be over, as the BoE was considering, in line with the movement's of the U.S. Federal Reserve, to further raise the bank rate.
The rate had been at an historic low of 0.25 percent, set in August 2016 to counter anticipated headwinds from the Brexit vote, but the bank raised it by 25 basis points in November.
Its forecasts at the time indicated there could be two more increases of 0.25 percent over three years.
The rate had returned to 0.5 percent, a level it had previously held since early 2009. The rate rise was the first increase in the rate since July 2007.
But Carney's language was ramped up on Thursday, and he also said he had the complete support of the nine-member rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee (MPC).
"The MPC has clearly taken a more hawkish stance," Dr Howard Archer, senior economic adviser with EY ITEM, a London-based financial analysis firm, told Xinhua on Thursday.
"With the economy seemingly now on a firmer footing, borne out by a modest upgrading of the 2018 GDP growth forecast in the Inflation Report and slack limited and diminishing, the MPC believes there is a reduced case to tolerate above target inflation.
"Specifically, the minutes observe that if the economy develops as now expected in the February Inflation Report monetary policy would need to be tightened" Archer said.
INFLATION REMAINS ABOVE TARGET
Key to the BoE's rate-decision-making process is inflation, and Thursday also saw the release of the quarterly inflation report.
The BoE's primary economic target is to keep inflation at 2 percent, but the report says that the high rate of inflation, currently at 3 percent, could rise a little more and will certainly remain above the target level in the coming months.
Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation was 0.5 percent at the time of the Brexit referendum vote in June 2016, and the surprise vote by Britain to quit the European Union (EU) deeply troubled foreign exchange markets who sent sterling into a sharp downward plunge from 1.48 U.S. dollars to 1.22 U.S. dollars.
This sharp fall has been good for exporters, as the BoE's inflation report noted, but has fuelled the steep rise in inflation through higher commodity and supply chain costs as well as more expensive imports.
The BoE now sees CPI inflation falling back to 2.4 percent by end-2018, 2.2 percent by end-2019 and 2.1 percent by end-2020. Inflation is seen stabilizing at 2.1 percent in the first quarter of 2021.
The inflation report forecasts a modest upgrade in growth from its November report, up to 1.8 percent increase in GDP growth this year and 1.7 percent next year.
But the British economy was structurally reassessed in the report, and found wanting in productivity, which it is forecast will now provide an upper limit to growth.
Archer said: "Following a reassessment of the supply side of the economy which included lowering its estimate of the equilibrium unemployment rate from 4.5 percent to 4.25 percent, the Bank of England believes that the UK only has a capacity to grow by 1.5 percent annually over the forecast horizon period."
He added: "This means that growth in demand is expected to exceed that of supply over 2018-2020 with the result that 'a small margin of excess demand emerges by early 2020 and builds thereafter,' generating persistent upward pressure on inflation."
雅思口语经典问题:外国人
雅思口语:隔离尘世的black-hole resort 黑洞休假
雅思口语考试的三大杀手锏
雅思口语经典试题:课程测验
雅思口语高频词汇:天气
雅思高分口语实战演练:艺术技能
雅思高分口语实战演练:压力苦恼
雅思口语满分技巧:巧避八大扣分点
雅思口语满分之考场应对方法
雅思口语高分的决定性因素
雅思口语高频词汇:个人介绍
雅思口语经典问题:资讯广告
基础薄弱如何扭转雅思口语乾坤
实用雅思口语句型100句
雅思口语核心词汇之“走”的表达
看美剧学雅思:暮光之城经典台词
雅思口语话题联想:《甄嬛传》中的雅思口语
雅思口语话题:Study Questions
雅思口语考试的三条注意事项
雅思口语经典试题:地方
雅思口语高分句型模板:圣诞节祝福
雅思口语经典问题:体育运动
词汇量有限也能拿雅思口语高分
雅思口语技巧:八个人生金句
雅思口语经典问题:名人
教你临场应变征服雅思口语考试
练发音学词汇突破雅思口语7分
雅思口语经典问题:环保健康
雅思口语经典问题:朋友和老师
想要雅思口语印象高分?学学这六招
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |