LONDON – UK Business Secretary Vince Cable has said that Bank
of England has ‘various options’ available to it when it comes to
supporting the UK’s economic recovery.
In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today program, Cable said:
“There is another side to policy, which is monetary policy. There
are various options open to the governor of the Bank of England and the
Monetary Policy Committee to support growth.”
“But they are an independent body and have to take their own
reading on the risks to inflation and deflation. Clearly they are acting
in parallel and in the overall support of the direction of recovery.”
Cable’s comments come just ahead of the release of official UK Q4
GDP data at 0930GMT. Many analysts fear the data will show a slowdown in
the growth seen in previous quarters.
“The bad weather in December leads us to believe the risks to this
forecast are to the downside, so it seems likely that the headline
reaction to the figure will emphasise concerns about the robustness of
the recovery,” he added.
MNI’s median forecast is for 0.4% growth on the quarter and a 2.6%
increase on the year, although there is a wide range between individual
analysts’ forecasts.
–London bureau: +4420 862 7499; email: wwilkes@marketnews.com
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