Carney: Estimate for rates to hit 2-3% 'not unreasonable'

Bank of England governor Mark Carney has said rates could be as high as 3% over the medium term, endorsing comments made by colleague Charles Bean earlier this week.

Facing questions from MPs over comments made since the Bank's quarterly Inflation Report last month, Carney said the forecast from his colleague was "not unreasonable". "Charlie Bean said yesterday there could be a 2%-2.5% move over the course of the forecast horizon. That is not unreasonable." The forecast horizon in the latest Inflation Report covers the period to the end of 2017, and the comment therefore chimes with expectations of low rates for a long time. His comments come after Bean, deputy governor for monetary policy, said in a speech yesterday that interest rates would i...