BoE's Bailey: All meetings are in play for a rate rise

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey, speaking before the UK Parliament Treasury Select Committee TSC, said that all future BoE policy meetings are now “in play” for a rate rise. He added that, given the very high uncertainty in economy, it would be hazardous to give specific forward guidance about when exactly these hikes might come.

Regarding his decision at the most recent BoE meeting not to vote for an immediate end to the bank’s QE programme, Bailey said he did not want to raise questions over whether BoE would complete future QE programmes.

Fellow MPC member Michael Saunders, also speaking before the TSC, noted that the risk of delaying too long on raising rates is that they might then have to go up a faster and further.

Finally, BoE MPC member Huw Pill said that while medium to long-term inflation expectations remain anchored, if those expectations were to shift, it would be key that “we meet that challenge”.

Market Reaction

GBP/USD has seen very little reaction to the testimony of BoE members before parliament just yet and the pair, for now, remains capped to the south of the 1.3450 mark.