MNI BRIEF: Inflation Risks Now Shifted To Downside-BOE Ramsden

Inflation risks have shifted to the downside and the Bank of England's previous forecast, showing it rebounding after hitting the 2% target may well be wrong and it could instead drop to 2% and stay around there, BOE Deputy Governor Dave Ramsden said at a Petersen Institute event Friday.

Ramsden's comments come ahead of new set economic projections in May and he made clear that he wants the forecast to show inflation on a lower path, which will open the door to earlier policy easing. The BOE Monetary Policy Committee's controversial prediction that inflation would rebound later this year may well be scrapped.

Ramsden said he now views the outlook for UK inflation as "tilted to the downside compared to the MPC’s February 2024 forecast, with a scenario where inflation stays close to the 2% target over the whole forecast period at least as likely as the February 2024 forecast, which showed inflation rising back above target to close to 3% by 2025Q1,"

He said that he no longer believed the UK was an outlier internationally and would not have more persistent inflation.