Bank of England’s Taylor: No need for interest rate hike
Bank of England official Alan Taylor has downplayed the need to raise interest rates in the face of the looming energy crisis, saying he saw no evidence that price rises from an initial jump in fuel costs were filtering into the wider economy.
External Monetary Policy Committee member said the case for rate hikes was “not compelling” given he saw little evidence in the UK of so-called second-round effects, where price pressures becomes embedded an economy as a result of companies raising their prices and staff bargaining for higher wages.
“The right policy response is therefore vigilant but disciplined,” he told an event in London. “We should not deny the shock, nor dismiss the risk that it could propagate. But neither should monetary policy react mechanically to movements in energy prices if those movements remain primarily relative-price shocks.”
Taylor, who has one of the most dovish voting track records on the Bank of England’s nine-strong MPC, pointed to the weak labour market, falling food inflation and the fact prices set in other energy-intensive industries had not risen by much as evidence that interest rates need not rise. “Taken together, these developments suggest that the economy is proving less susceptible, at least so far, to a repeat of the dynamics seen in 2022,” he said.
Bank of England rate hike looking more likely
His remarks stand in sharp contrast to a string of warnings from colleagues that interest rates would need to rise unless there was a sudden de-escalation in the Middle East. Earlier on Tuesday, external rate-setter Catherine Mann said that central banks were already suffering a “credibility problem” given their recent failure to bring inflation back to two per cent, and also warned price pressures were likely to ingrain themselves in the economy.
Governor Andrew Bailey used a speech last week to pave the way for an interest rate hike at the central bank’s next decision in November, saying a tightening of monetary policy was “increasingly likely”. His comments were echoed on Monday by deputy governor Dave Ramsden, who said there “could be a case for increasing Bank Rate” at the upcoming vote.
Earlier this month, the Bank of England held interest rates at 3.75 per cent for a sixth consecutive decision. MPC members voted six to three to leave the base rate unchanged, arguing that changes in private sector borrowing costs had tightened conditions without requiring action from the central bank.
Taylor on Tuesday pointed to that tightening, referring to more expensive mortgages and more expensive loans to businesses, as doing enough to stave off inflation to avoid directly raising rates.
“My assessment is that the current stance is more than sufficient to weigh on demand and inflation and provide the degree of restrictiveness needed to return inflation sustainably to target,” he said, adding: “The case for further rate increases is not compelling to me unless energy prices remain high for an extended period and also generate clearer signals of a transmission into broader inflation persistence, as revealed by the signposts that we are actively monitoring.”