LEEDS, England (Reuters) – The Bank of England should move quickly to bring down interest rates given signs of a slowdown in Britain’s economy, Alan Taylor, the BoE’s most recently appointed interest rate setter, said on Wednesday. “We are in the last half mile on inflation, but with the economy weakening, it’s time to get […]
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Bank of England’s Taylor says it’s time to cut interest rates
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LEEDS, England (Reuters) – The Bank of England should move quickly to bring down interest rates given signs of a slowdown in Britain’s economy, Alan Taylor, the BoE’s most recently appointed interest rate setter, said on Wednesday.
“We are in the last half mile on inflation, but with the economy weakening, it’s time to get interest rates back toward normal to sustain a soft landing,” Taylor said in the text of a speech he was due deliver at Leeds University.
“It is this logic that convinced me to vote for an interest rate cut in December.”
The BoE has reduced its benchmark Bank Rate twice since August – less than other central banks – and it has stressed it is likely to move gradually on further interest rate cuts, given persistent inflation pressures in Britain’s economy.
(Reporting by Andy Bruce in Leeds and Suban Abdulla and William James in London; editing by William Schomberg)