–Tells BBC Hardtalk That More Should Be Done Going Around Banks
–Says UK Econ Is In State Of Poor Growth, Stagnation
LONDON (MNI) – There is not very much of a distinction between
cutting interest rates and doing more quantitative easing (QE), says
Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee Member Adam Posen.
In an interview with BBC Hardtalk, Posen said that the UK economy
was in a “state of poor growth, stagnation – we could be doing better
with the potential we’ve got.”
The UK economy is “not growing as fast as it “normally would when
coming out of recession,” Posen said.
Posen said that he was leaving the MPC with a “sense of sadness, we
weren’t able to do better” and reiterated a number of ways in which the
BOE could have taken more radical steps to stimulate the economy.
“We didn’t live up to what we could have done,” Posen told the BBC.
While the latest announced scheme to boost lending, the ‘Funding
for Lending Scheme’ was a “step in the right direction”, Posen said that
the BOE should try and do more stimulus “going around the banking
system”.
Buying private sector debt and issuing bonds to finance
construction projects were among the ways in which the BOE could have
been more bold in tackling the economic crisis, he said.
–London newsroom: 4420 7 862 7492; email: wwilkes@marketnews.com
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