She’s speaking at the Treasury appointment hearing in parliament

  • Not being appointed to learn as I go
  • Spent 3 years at the IMF analysing monetary policy
  • Sees few signs of inflationary pressure in the UK
  • Outlook for economy heavily dependant on remaining degree of slack which is highly uncertain
  • Elements of spare capacity seems to have closed
  • Expects BOE to lower forecasts of spare capacity in next revisions
  • Bulk of spare capacity lies with people looking to work more hours
  • Productivity gap looks to be more structural than cyclical, it’s still a puzzle
  • Rates can state lower for longer if UK productivity improves
  • Would be a mistake to divert monetary policy from primary objective just to deal with potential risk from housing market
  • Would not want to see unintentional sharp tightening in monetary conditions as a result of gilt sales