BoE Deputy Governor Dave Ramsden said a speech, “personally I felt that the 0.5pp increase in Bank Rate would have been warranted in February, in line with a watchful and responsive approach to monetary policy”.
“I have concerned about the emerging inflationary impetus from a tight labour market and from a broadening out in price pressures since last summer… have been voting for some front-loaded tightening in monetary policy since last September”, he added.
“Looking ahead, like the rest of the Committee I judge that if the economy develops broadly in line with the February MPR forecast, some further modest tightening in monetary policy is likely to be appropriate in the coming months,” he said”.
Nevertheless he emphasized that the word ” modest” was “significant”. “I do not envisage Bank Rate rising to anything like its pre-2007 level of 5% or above, let alone to the kind of levels we used to see before the MPC was formed in 1997,” he said.
