Former BOE MPC member Danny Blanchflower quoted by the BBC
- interest rates will likely fall further in Britain and remain at near record low levels until 2021
- growth in Britain is still very weak and the global economy "feels a little bit like 2008."
- the next rates move would be down not up as many expect
Blanchflower's comments are not a surprise given that he was an arch-dove when serving on the MPC until May 2009 but it does add further questioning of any assumption that future rate moves will be up rather than down.
Says Blanchflower:
"We cut rates in November 2008 by 150 basis points (1.5%). It was clear that we should have cut by more but didn't because of the panic that it might have caused," he said.
"It was absolutely clear that this (the financial crisis) was something we had not seen in a generation. We learned that the scale of the shock was enormous."
A Bank of England spokesman said:
"The Monetary Policy Committee responsible for setting interest rates will do the right thing at the right time on rates and base any future decision on the factual data."
The Treasury declined to comment.
BBC has the full story here
I'm not expecting this to impact too much on opening GBP prices but with the market in such a fragile and fickle state right now you should be on guard.
Ex-MPC man Blanchflower still on a lower rate path
