Brexit Uncertainty: UK rate cut ‘plausible’
BoE policymakers to vote for higher interest rates in 2017 and 2018
PHOTO: FILE
BARNSLEY:
The Bank of England (BoE) may need to cut interest rates in the likely scenario that high levels of uncertainty over Brexit persist, policymaker Michael Saunders said on Friday in the first clear signal that the BoE is considering a cut. Last week, without directly raising the prospect of cutting interest rates, the BoE said Brexit and slower world growth were increasingly causing Britain’s economy to perform below potential. Saunders - who was one of the first BoE policymakers to vote for higher interest rates in 2017 and 2018 - said it was now his view that the unpredictable path of Brexit would effectively act as a “slow puncture” for the economy. “Growth has slowed to a mere crawl,” he told local businesses in Barnsley, northern England. “I think it is quite plausible that the next move in Bank Rate would be down rather than up,” he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 29th, 2019.
The Bank of England (BoE) may need to cut interest rates in the likely scenario that high levels of uncertainty over Brexit persist, policymaker Michael Saunders said on Friday in the first clear signal that the BoE is considering a cut. Last week, without directly raising the prospect of cutting interest rates, the BoE said Brexit and slower world growth were increasingly causing Britain’s economy to perform below potential. Saunders - who was one of the first BoE policymakers to vote for higher interest rates in 2017 and 2018 - said it was now his view that the unpredictable path of Brexit would effectively act as a “slow puncture” for the economy. “Growth has slowed to a mere crawl,” he told local businesses in Barnsley, northern England. “I think it is quite plausible that the next move in Bank Rate would be down rather than up,” he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 29th, 2019.