LONDON (MNI) – Any decision on whether to restart the Bank of
England’s programme of quantitative easing is “finely balanced,” a
senior policy maker said Wednesday, as the economic outlook darkened
over the summer months.
In an interview with the Times, Monetary Policy Committee member
David Miles said:
“The case for [more QE] has become in my mind quite finely
balanced, and that wasn’t how I saw things. It wasn’t quite as closely
balanced a decision two or three months back, before we really got the
bad news over the summer.”
However, despite the less-than-optimistic outlook, Miles insisted
that although the risks of another recession had increased due to the
turmoils in the eurozone, it still remained the least likely outcome.
He said he felt the Bank of England still had the firepower to act
against a slowing economy, saying, “I think we do on the MPC have
substantial ammunition to use if we need to.”
Miles was at pains to stress that the outlook remains unpredictable
and said he had not yet made up his mind on any future course of action.
–London newsroom 0044 20 7862 7499; email: ukeditorial@marketnews.com
[TOPICS: M$$BE$,MT$$$$]
