UK interest rate could need further cut, BoE chief economist warns

UK interest rates could need to be cut further to support growth and return inflation to target, the Bank of England's chief economist has said.

In a speech entitled 'How low can you go?', Andrew Haldane said "there could be a need to loosen rather than tighten the monetary reins". Against a backdrop of low wage growth, subdued world growth and prices, and a strong sterling, Haldane said "the balance of risks to UK growth, and to UK inflation at the two-year horizon, is skewed squarely and significantly to the downside". "The case for raising UK interest rates in the current environment is, for me, some way from being made," he said. Haldane's comments appear to set him against the Bank's governor Mark Carney, who said in J...