IEA Economics Fellow Julian Jessop has been quoted in The Daily Express, responding to the Bank of England’s decision to raise interest rates to five per cent and inflation continues to run rampant.

Julian said:

“I would not necessarily single out Andrew Bailey. There are nine members on the Monetary Policy Committee and they rely on economic forecasts made by Bank staff.

“But Bailey is the Governor of the Bank, so the buck has to stop with him.

“A more credible central bank might have been able to leave interest rates on hold today. Indeed, two members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted to do just that.

“Unfortunately, confidence in the Bank is low after a series of policy mistakes, forecast errors and communication blunders.

“This MPC was forced to raise rates by an unexpected half a point to demonstrate that it is serious about getting inflation back down – along with signalling that further rate rises could be on the way.”

Read the full article here.