The Financial Times reports on an interview with Martin Weale, an external member of the bank’s Monetary Policy Committee. He said:
- The Bank of England should start raising interest rates sooner rather than later to avoid painful hikes in the future
- But now is not the time for a first increase
- He thought the bank could wait a bit longer before raising rates. “How long that ‘bit longer’ will be I’m not sure, but the best judgment I can have is that it’s not so urgent it needs doing now.”
The Financial Times (gated, but can be read with a free registration): Rate rise urged ‘sooner rather than later’
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Weale is considered a ‘hawk’ on the Monetary Policy Committee and is likely to be amongst the first voting for a rate rise in England.
Last week’s minutes of the MPC’s said “some” of the members thought the decision to keep rates on hold was “becoming more balanced” – in the FT interview Weale confirmed he was among that group. he said that factors that could “tip the balance” for him would include:
- evidence of more movement in wages
- or a faster fall in unemployment than the MPC forecast in its May inflation report
