Bean's 'slowdown' warning muddies rate hike speculation

Bank of England deputy governor Charlie Bean has defended MPC policy in the face of persistently high inflation, warning the economy could be on the verge of a "durable slowing".

His comments would seem to dimiss the likelihood of an early interest rate rise. Bean says CPI inflation will increase beyond its current level of 4%, which is already twice the MPC's target.  But the MPC must balance the risks posed by high inflation against economic headwinds which threaten to derail the recovery, he told the ABI's conference in central London yesterday. "We assumed the weakness in the Q4 GDP figures will be a temporary soft-patch, but it could be the harbinger of a more durable slowing. Only time will tell," he says. The 0.6% contraction in GDP in the last qu...