Mortgage News
Weale ‘unlikely’ to vote for base rate rise in near future
Bank of England policymaker Martin Weale has said he is unlikely to vote for higher interest rates in the near future, as a surprise ‘pause in weight growth’ has made the need less immediate.
Weale (pictured) told the Daily Telegraph “the factors pushing down on inflation have become a bit more prolonged.”
“I initially thought that the weak wage growth was a wobble that represented stray numbers that you get once or twice from time-to-time. There has plainly been something more to it than that,” he said.
Figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) last week showed that wage growth hit 2.4% between August and October, down from 3% in the six months until the end of September.
Weale said it is unlikely that he will vote for a rate rise during the seven months he has left at the Bank of England, but said it is ‘obviously possible’ with eight other members on the Monetary Policy Committee.
He added that rates were likely to need to rise before current market expectations of the start of 2017 to ensure inflation did not overshoot the Bank’s target in the medium term.
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“My sense is that to keep inflation on target, rates need to be at some point higher than markets imply,” he said.