Bank Of England Chief Defends Post-Brexit Vote Policy
Muhammad Rameez Published September 07, 2016 | 08:35 PM
LONDON, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News -7th Sept,2016) : Bank of England governor Mark Carney on Wednesday dismissed accusations of exaggerating Brexit's economic risks to Britain, insisting that BoE action since the EU exit vote had reduced recession risks.
Largely better-than-expected UK economic data compiled since the June referendum in favour of exiting the European Union has led analysts -- and MPs grilling Carney Wednesday -- to suggest that the central bank may have been too dramatic in its assessment of Brexit's fallout on the economy.
But addressing a cross-panel of lawmakers Wednesday, Carney said he was "absolutely serene about" forecasts made by the BoE ahead of the shock vote outcome. Carney, along with the BoE's eight other policy makers, last month decided to cut the central bank's main interest rate to a record low 0.25 percent and pump tens of billions of extra Pounds (dollars/euros) around the UK economy -- to avert the risk of recession.
Addressing parliament's Treasury Select Committee Wednesday, Carney said UK economic activity had bounced back in August from an knee-jerk slump in the immediate aftermath of the vote outcome "because the bank took timely, comprehensive and concrete action and that action has had an impact".
He added: "It has had an impact on financial conditions. They've improved considerably since we acted. They had already been improving in the few weeks in the run up to that in anticipation of some action." Carney said he was "absolutely serene about the judgements made by" the BoE's policy committees, adding that the risk of recession "has gone down" since the bank acted in August.
Highlighting the fact that Britain's economy was not out of trouble, a leading economic think tank, NIESR, warned Wednesday that "the probability of a technical recession before the end of 2017 remains significantly elevated".
A technical recession is described as two consecutive quarters of slowing growth. While a number of UK economic data releases since June have been positive, official figures on Wednesday showed that manufacturing output tanked by 0.9 percent in July -- the biggest month-on-month decline in one year.
Related Topics
Recent Stories
HEC reviews curricula for environmental sciences degree programme
ICC Asia looking forward to an action-packed Asia Cricket Week
Yuvraj Singh named ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 Ambassador
Greece hands Olympic flame to 2024 Paris Games hosts
Two Kyiv hospitals evacuating over feared Russian strikes
World must act on neurotech revolution, say experts
Charles & Catherine's cancer diagnoses
Champions Alcaraz and Sabalenka through in Madrid Open
King Charles to resume some public duties during cancer treatment: palace
US defense chief announces $6 bn in security aid for Ukraine
Heavy rains cause damage to Spezand-Taftan railway track
Woman stabbed in Israel, attacker killed: police
More Stories From World
-
NFL will allow players to wear Guardian Cap helmets in games
4 hours ago -
Football: German Bundesliga table
4 hours ago -
Football: Italian Serie A result
4 hours ago -
Football: German Bundesliga results
4 hours ago -
US troops to leave Chad in second African state withdrawal
4 hours ago -
Plastics pollution may be solved without production cap: Canada minister
4 hours ago
-
Biden stalls on menthol cigarette ban fearing Black vote backlash
4 hours ago -
Champions Alcaraz and Sabalenka through in Madrid Open
4 hours ago -
6,000 French police to welcome Olympic torch amid bonus boost
5 hours ago -
Taiwan hit by several quakes, strongest reaching 6.1-magnitude
5 hours ago -
'Ballistic' Bairstow stars as Punjab pull off record T20 chase
5 hours ago -
Tennis: ATP/WTA Madrid Open results - 2nd update
5 hours ago