Bank of England

Now is not the time to raise interest rates, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said on Tuesday, warning that already weak wage growth risked a further loss of momentum as Britain prepares to leave the European Union.

In a speech to London’s banking community a day after Brexit talks started, Carney dashed any prospect that he might be close to joining the three BoE policymakers who last week unexpectedly voted to raise rates from their record low of 0.25 per cent.

The Bank of England on Thursday ramped up its UK economic growth forecasts for the next three years, despite the threat of Brexit storm clouds.
The bank voted unanimously in its February meeting to keep interest rates at the record low level of 0.25% and keep its quantitative easing (QE) purchase targets at up to £10 billion ($12.6 billion) for corporate bonds and £435 billion for U.K. government bonds.

Then, the British central bank lifted its 2017 economic growth prediction to 2.0% from a 1.4% forecast signalling the better-than expected performance of the UK economy since the June referendum.
The BOE still believes growth will slow as Brexit negotiations begin, predicting GDP growth of 1.6% in 2018 and 1.7% in 2019. That was up from growth estimates of 1.5% and 1.6% respectively.

“The most interesting part of Thursday’s events will be Mark Carney’s press conference. The Bank will probably revise up their forecasts for inflation and growth in the short term. So Mr Carney is bound to be asked why he’s not planning on raising interest rates in response. The answer will be that the central bank looks beyond this kind of inflation because it thinks it won’t last.

Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England, could leave the role before the eight-year term, facing down Brexiter critics campaigning for him to resign ahead of time.

Mr Carney took over as governor in June 2013 for an eight-year term, but with an option to leave after five years.

Bank of England is willing to tolerate above-target inflation to support growth and employment after ‘Brexit’, Governor Mark Carney said Friday.
"Our job is not to target the exchange rate, our job is to target inflation," he said during a public meeting in Nottingham.

The Bank of England introduced its first plastic 5-pound banknotes Tuesday in UK. They depict Winston Churchill, and are two and a half times more resistant than paper money, in use for over 300 years. Next year, the plastic £ 10 note with the English writer Jane Austen will go into circulation, and followed by the painter J.M.W. Turner £20 note by 2020. In a press release, the bank said it has printed 440 million of the "New Fivers," which will begin to show up immediately in ATMs and at bank counters.