MNI BRIEF: BOE Haskel - Not In Policy Tightening Place

Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee member Jonathan Haskel has pushed back against more hawkish talk last week from two rate setting colleagues, Dave Ramsden and Michael Saunders, who both said the pick-up in inflationary pressure may tilt the scales to earlier tightening.

Haskel said Monday that with Covid infections picking up and economic scarring from the pandemic still a danger "risk-management considerations lean against a pre-emptive tightening of monetary policy" adding that "for now, tight policy is not the right policy."

His comments show that the MPC is divided over the next communication step, with the committee having moved from emphasising at the start of this year that it was ready to act if need be to counteract downside risks to adopting a neutral policy stance in May. Haskel is clearly not yet prepared to shift the guidance towards earlier tightening.