Bank of England (BoE)
Brown should bank on a change of approach
This article published on Tuesday 11 October asks whether it could be time for the UK's Chancellor to re-order the remit of the Bank of England's MPC? Or at least place growth, which ultimately leads to jobs and prosperity, as an equal priority to price…
Bank of England Inflation Attitudes Survey, Aug 05
The Bank of England has published its August 2005 Inflation Attitudes Survey. 56% of respondents thought the inflation target was 'about right', while the proportions saying the target was 'too high' and 'too low' were 19% and 9% respectively.
Comment: The Old Lady stands her ground
The Bank of England's decision to turn down a settlement offer from the Bank of Credit & Commerce International's (BCCI) liquidator, Deloitte, in the ongoing litigation case related to the BCCI's collapse in 1991, shows how tough the Bank can be when…
Bank of England rejects BCCI settlement offer
The Bank of England said on Tuesday 4 October that it had rejected a recent approach to settle a £1 billion lawsuit involving the collapse of Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI).
BoE's Lambert warns on disappointing GDP
Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee member Richard Lambert warned in a newspaper interview on Thursday 29 September that UK GDP growth is likely to fall short of the central bank's best estimate and that consumer spending remains weak.
Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin, Autumn 2005
The Bank of England released its Quarterly Bulletin Autumn 2005 on Monday. The Bulletin includes the article "Assessing the MPC's fan charts" which says the Bank's use of fan charts has given a 'reasonably good guide' to the risks surrounding the outlook…
Bank of England's MPC united on rate vote
Minutes from the Bank of England's 7 and 8 September meeting released on Wednesday 21 September showed policy makers voted unanimously to keep interest rates unchanged.
Comment: Challenging 'received wisdom'
In delivering the Keynes Lecture in Economics at the British Academy on Tuesday, Bank of England MPC member, Professor Stephen Nickell, set out to refute two major areas of criticism of MPC's track-record over the last five years.
New Bank of Israel law agreed
The Israeli government has agreed to the wording of a new Bank of Israel Law that would transfer responsibility for setting interest rates from the central bank governor alone to a monetary committee.
BoE's Lambert downplays UK inflation rise
Writing in the UK newspaper the Sun, Bank of England rate setter Richard Lambert downplayed the sharp recent rise in UK inflation, saying that the central bank does not set rates according to where inflation stands at present.
King's cricket connection
Mervyn King spent Thursday 8 September watching England play Australia at the Oval in the last Ashes cricket Test. But the Bank of England governor doesn't just watch the game, he is also involved in a campaign to bring more cricket to state schools in…
U.K. interest rates are heading for a decline
The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee will decide on UK interest rates this Thursday. This article published on Wednesday 7 September suggests there will no surprise when the MPC leaves interest rates unchanged at 4.5 per cent, but rates are…
BoE's King on UK inflation
In a speech given on 27 August Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England, said that inflation expectations in the UK may shift significantly even if the cause of the change in prices is due to temporary factors.
Bank of England to cut financial stability staff
The Bank of England is planning to restructure the division which monitors financial stability, according to a report in the Daily Telegraph. The move could see the elimination of about 20 of the 150 jobs in the department.
Basel II may feed volatility
Despite recognising that the new Basel accord is "widely viewed as a much needed effort to deal with the shortcoming of the current system", a recent working paper by the Bank of England (BoE) raises new concerns about how the accord may exacerbate…
What's behind real exchange rate moves?
A new working paper from the Bank of England's economic research engine room looks into the reasons for past movements in exchange rates. In contrast to the "benchmark model" in this field, the paper finds an important role for nominal shocks in…
Fears over narrow inflation targets
Wolfgang Munchau criticises overemphasis on inflation targets in a column in the Financial Times. Inflation targets have done good work in bringing down inflation and inflation expectations, he says, but with that battle won, perhaps they are no longer…
ECB behind BoE, Fed on clarity; must reveal more
This article published on Thursday 18 August reveals the results of a poll of economists and academics who were asked to compare the ECB with the Bank of England, U.S. Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan for clarity of communication.
In search of King's defence
Two articles published Thursday reflected on the Bank of England's last MPC meeting which saw the governor outvoted for the first time. One says the UK's "boring" monetary policy just got a whole lot more interesting, noting that heavyweight Charlie Bean…
Bank of England MPC Minutes, 3 & 4 August
The minutes from the 3 & 4 August meeting of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee published on Wednesday 17 August showed governor Mervyn King and three other top officials voted against this month's decision by the nine member MPC to cut…
Comment:Test for Mervyn King's communication skill
What does yesterday's revelation that the top brass of the Bank of England's MPC were outvoted at August's monetary policy meeting imply for the market's view of future interest movements in the UK? And what does it tell us about the institutional set-up…
Bank of England needs to re-examine its forecasts
This article published on Wednesday 10 August says that the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee is under great pressure to get its forecasts right. It asks whether it's possible we are too reverential when it comes to the Bank's projections.
Bank of England Inflation Report, August 2005
The Bank of England published its August 2005 Inflation Report on 10 August. In the report the Bank said the UK's growth outlook has weakened slightly in the near term, pulled down by sluggish consumer spending.
Doubts on Bank of England's forecasting
Nobody could say that Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England, was defensive at yesterday's press conference on the latest Inflation Report (who has ever seen Mervyn on the defensive?), but he certainly knew he had some explaining to do.