United Kingdom
Sports talk, central bank style
Mervyn King is a well known supporter of English premier league football team Aston Villa. But the Bank of England Governor doesn't confine his support to the stadium. Last weeks Inflation Report presentation continued King's regular habit of making…
BoE's Large on financial stability
In a speech on 'Financial Stability: Maintaining Confidence in a Complex World' given on 17 November, Andrew Large of the Bank of England said he echoed the views expressed recently by Callum McCarthy, in his speech to the European Policy Forum. The FSAP…
Debt reduction could impact on UK rates
Andrew Large said on Monday 17 November that if personal debt was reduced in the UK it could have an impact on interest rates, Reuters reports. In a speech to the City of London Central Banking Conference the Bank of England's Deputy Governor for…
Bank of England Inflation Report, November 2003
The Bank of England published its quarterly Inflation Report for November 2003 on Wednesday 12 November. In the report the Bank forecast that growth in the UK would pick up to just under 3 per cent next year, and would be "marginally above trend" over…
Bank of England raises growth forecast
Mervyn King told the Bank of England's quarterly inflation report press conference on Wednesday 12 November that "There is a risk that heavily-indebted households will be badly affected by changes in economic circumstances or interest rates", Reuters…
Bank of England raises interest rates by 0.25%
The Bank of England raised interest rates by 0.25 percentage points to 3.75% on 6 November saying the global economic recovery appears to be gathering momentum but with inflationary pressures likely to build a "modest" increase was required.
Can UK's 'economic luck' last'?
Mervyn King described the UK's "non-inflationary consistently expansionary" economic performance since sterling's eviction from the exchange rate mechanism as "nice" earlier this month. Can the "nice" performance last, an article in the Financial Times…
Bank of England MPC Minutes 8/9 October 2003
Minutes of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee Meeting were released on 22 October for the meeting of 8 and 9 October 2003. Deputy governor Andrew Large, executive director Paul Tucker and external MPC members Kate Barker and Stephen Nickell,…
Minutes show BoE came close to rate increase
Minutes from the Bank of England's October Monetary Policy Committee meeting published on Wednesday 22 October showed four of the nine members, including deputy governor Andrew Large, voted for an increase in interest rates, according to Reuters. The…
Greenspan to speak in UK at CBI conference
Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan will speak by video link to the Confederation of British Industry's national conference which is being held from 16-18 November at the ICC in Birmingham, England, according to a report by Reuters.
Central Banks and Supreme Courts by C Goodhart
This Working Paper from the Financial Markets Group claims that a significant, large part of the reason for the differing procedures of the legal and monetary policy bodies in the UK, USA, and EU derives from a political science root. How do you deal…
BoE's King on the monetary policy framework
In his first speech as Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King said on 14 October that the present monetary and fiscal frameworks provide a seaworthy policy vessel, but, as all sailors know, fog, especially statistical fog, can be dangerous. So we…
King: no need for low rates if world recovers
Bank of England Governor Mervyn King has said, according to Reuters, that if the world economy recovers, interest rates will not need to remain as low as they are. "So far we have been keeping rates low to ensure there was sufficient growth in domestic…
Is inflation targeting yesterday's success story?
The problem now for the Bank of England, this article in The Independent suggests, is that the achievement of low and stable inflation may have become a little too easy. Inflation targeting may work very well in puncturing a bubble of inflationary…
BoE holds UK interest rates steady at 3.5 pct
As most analysts predicted, the Bank of England left interest rates unchanged for the third month running on Thursday 9 October at 3.5 per cent, Reuters reported.
Bank of England Court to meet in Nottingham
The Court of the Bank of England is to meet in Nottingham at the Council House on 15 October 2003. The meeting is part of a programme of formal meetings of Court outside London.
Ex-BoE governor George joins Nestle board
Former governor of the Bank of England Sir Edward George has swapped gold bars for chocolate bars after being appointed to the board of Nestle, the world's largest food and confectionary company, according to the Daily Telegraph. He follows in the wake…
Bean on Inflation Targeting: The UK Experience
In the speech 'Inflation Targeting: The UK Experience' given on 1 October Charles Bean of the Bank of England said it was "extraordinarily difficult" to know how much to raise interest rates, if at all, to prevent a bubble in the housing market and an…
BoE's Chief Economist Bean cautious on rate rise
The Bank of England's chief economist Charles Bean said in a speech Wednesday there were good reasons for the long-term level of house prices in the UK to be higher, including low interest rates, an increase in the numbers of people living alone, and…
UK economy growth 'double the estimate'
The British economy grew twice as fast as previously thought during the second quarter of this year, official figures have showed, according to the Financial Times. The Office for National Statistics revised its estimates of growth in gross domestic…
Warning issued over UK money laundering directive
The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants warned the UK Treasury on Monday 29 September, according to the Financial Times, that the new money laundering directive, due to come into force in January, may swamp the National Criminal Intelligence…
Central banks: What to achieve & how to get there
This article in the Independent newspaper says that underneath it all, central bankers are ordinary folk, and they, too, face difficulties in achieving what they want. At the Bank of England, the Monetary Policy Committee's life has been relatively short…
Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin, Autumn 2003
The Bank of England released its Quarterly Bulletin, Autumn 2003, on 26 September. The Bulletin includes articles titled 'Public expectations of UK inflation' and 'The optimal rate of inflation: an academic perspective'. The report also warns that…
Mervyn's smile
When the Bank of England's top brass was hauled in front of the Treasury Select Committee to explain their August Inflation Report, Mervyn King, the Bank's new governor, stole the show - although the committee did probe the voting habits of some of the…