MNI BRIEF: BOE Haldane: My Nov QE Vote Finely Balanced

Bank of England Chief Economist Andrew Haldane said Monday it was a finely balanced decision in November on whether he should vote to approve a larger or smaller quantitative easing package in November and he came down in favour of the larger GBP150 billion in asset purchases as an "insurance policy."

Silvana Tenreyro, external MPC member, said that QE at present had a much more muted effect than previously and that the driver behind her support for the November package was not to add stimulus now but rather "the insurance motive to avoid any tightening in conditions." Haldane said that the BOE's ready reckoners when it first launched QE in response to the global financial crisis were that GBP150 billion was equivalent to cutting Bank Rate by 1.5 percentage points but that the effects now were less than this. The BOE has not provided any new ready reckoners for QE. MPC members are giving evidence to the Treasury Select Committee.