LONDON (Reuters) - Bank of England Governor Mark Carney and other British monetary policymakers are speaking at a news conference after the Bank published its quarterly Inflation Report.
Below are comments from the news conference.
ECONOMY AND INTEREST RATES
- The economy has started to head back towards normal. The Monetary Policy Committee's forecast sees the prospect of the economy moving from a recovery supported by household spending to an expansion sustained by business investment; from falling to rising real wages; and from employment to productivity growth to support those wage increases and improve export competitiveness.
- As time has moved on and the recovery has been sustained, the economy has edged closer to the point at which bank rates will need gradually to rise. The exact timing of this will inevitably be subject to considerable speculation and interest.
- The ultimate answer will depend on the evolution of the economy, particularly the degree of slack, the prospects for its absorption in the broader inflation area outlook.
- When the time does come to begin to remove stimulus we will defer asset sales, at least until the bank rate has reached a level from which it could be cut materially.
- Securing the recovery is like making it through to the qualifying rounds of the World Cup. That is a major achievement but it is not the ultimate goal.
(Reporting by Brenda Goh, Karolin Schaps, Sarah Young, Editing by Belinda Goldsmith)