–Adds Detail To Version Transmitted At 0516 GMT
LONDON (MNI) – Speaking to Sky News at the weekend, Bank of England
Monetary Policy Committee member Martin Weale said the Bank has scope
for additional quantitative easing.
Following the MPC’s decision at its October meeting to extend its
current stock of QE by stg75 billion to a cumulative stg275 bn, Weale
said “There is quite a lot of scope for further quantitative easing.”
He added “Before the purchases that we announced last week, the
amount of government debt in the system was actually higher than it had
been before the earlier bout, so there is quite a lot more that could be
done.”
Until very recently – the August meet – Weale had been a voter for
a 25 bps rate hike.
His comments in support of QE make it pretty clear he voted in
favour of it at the October meeting, with the minutes of that meeting
due out on Oct 19.
He said the further quantitative easing would provide further
support for the economy and “I certainly think it is an appropriate
response to a worsening economic crisis.”
Weale dismissed the argument that quantitative easing could feed
directly into inflation saying “I can’t see why that should be the
case.”
— London Bureau +20 7862 7499; ukeditorial@marketnews.com
[TOPICS: MT$$$$,M$X$$$,M$$FI$,M$$BE$]
