MNI BRIEF: Pill Says BOE Needs To Be Wary Of Doing Too Much

The change in the Bank of England's communication Thursday, when the Monetary Policy Committee removed the reference to forceful action if need be "was a very conscious signal" and that while the MPC had to see the job through on getting inflation sustainably back to target it had to be aware of the risk of overtightening, Chief Economist Huw Pill said Friday.

Pill's remarks at a BOE Agents briefing highlighted how further tightening is no longer near automatic, following the MPC's decision to hike the policy rate to 4%. "The Bank has done a lot ... it needs to guard against doing too much," he said, while making clear that it may still find it has to tighten further, adding that that the MPC wanted to "signal its vigilance to greater persistence of inflation" and that ""there is this need to see this difficult job though" of getitng inflation back to 2%. (MNI BOE WATCH: BOE Hikes By 50, "Watchful" On Inflation)

Markets have brought down rate expectations markedly following Thursday's forecasts and the new guidance from the MPC, with the debate now over whether or a couple of hikes may be needed. Pill made no direct comment on market pricing, but he did say the message from the committee Thursday had been widely understood but that they were "reticent about trying to steer the path of interest rates."