Bank of England Preview: No Changes Likely
February 6, 2013
January committee meeting minutes had a slightly more hawkish tone and indicated reservations about possible collateral damage of ever-increasing quantitative easing. Moreover, sterling’s modest depreciation in recent months constitutes some modest easing of monetary conditions delivered in a more innocuous manner. Global and regional growth prospects and financial conditions have improved since 4Q12. The Bank of England is in transition, awaiting the installation of Mark Carney as Governor a few months from now. British inflation ended 2012 at 2.7%, thus closer to 3% than the targeted 2%. It will take a much bigger deterioration of activity and drop in inflation than exists now to produce a majority of committee members sanctioning a rise in asset purchases from its present limit of GBP 375 billion. The Bank Rate has been 0.5% since March 2009. Tomorrow’s announcement is set for 12:00 GMT.
Copyright 2013, Larry Greenberg. All rights reserved. No secondary distribution without express permission.
Tags: Bank of England
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