So says former dep gov Charlie Bean in an interview with Money&Banking.com
- press and market commentary focussed excessively on associated expectation of when the conditions for considering a rate increase would be satisfied
" When unemployment fell faster than expected that was somehow regarded as being a failure of the guidance, resulting in some damage to the reputation of the MPC"
Forward guidance was introduced by Mark Carney when he took over as gov after his stint at the BOC having introduced something similar there. Bean's criticism seems aimed at press and market interpretation but one could argue it's a back-handed swipe at the person who introduced it.
"Whenever there appears to be high, or rapidly rising, leverage, alarm bells should ring. My guess is that the next round of financial vulnerabilities will turn out to be down to private businesses (not sovereigns) in emerging economies that have taken advantage of low interest rates and ample liquidity in the United States and other advanced economies to borrow in foreign currencies, especially dollars.
In many cases the other side of their balance sheets will be in domestic currency. That currency mismatch leaves them exposed if exchange rates change (in particular if the dollar continues to strengthen)"
Full interview here
Bean - Forward guidance hurt the BOE's credibility
