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MNI BRIEF: BOE Pill: 'May Be More Work To Do' On Tightening

(MNI) London

The Bank of England may need to tighten further with the key to future policy setting how persistent currently elevated inflation proves to be, Chief Economist Huw Pill said Friday, although he accepted the bank had no directional bias at present and would react to incoming data.

Pill, speaking at a BOE agents event, said that there "may be more work to do," with the majority on the BOE's Monetary Policy Committee believing that the risk of inflation persistence remained. The MPC hiked Bank Rate 25 basis points at its May meeting to 4.5% without giving any clear directional steer on what will come next. Pill said that the committee is data dependent and if the data surprise on the downside the MPC would also react to that.

The MPC's forecasts showed inflation undershooting target at the two and three year' time but Pill questioned the reliability of the BOE's models, saying that they were responding to the risk of changes to wage and price setting behaviour leading to more persistent inflation.

"The risks are much more that inflation will remain unacceptably high," he said.

MNI London Bureau | +44 203-586-2223 | david.robinson@marketnews.com
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MNI London Bureau | +44 203-586-2223 | david.robinson@marketnews.com
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