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Newest member of Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of Bank of England (BOE) Gertjan Vlieghe, today in his first parliamentary hearing sounded as mild dove, though he reiterated majority view that rate hike is likely to be the most likely next move from the bank.
Mr. Vlieghe came under intense scrutiny over his previous ties with Brevan Howard, which he intended to keep even after his hire at the bank. However, he later gave up that due to conflicts of interests.
In his subsequent Q&A, Mr. Vlieghe sounded more towards dovish, which is sharp contrast with his colleague, Ian McCafferty who faced the same panel later today. Mr. McCafferty has been voting to hike rates for past three meeting suggesting a hike now would reduce the pace of overall hike.
- Mr. Vlieghe on the contrary believes that UK economy is in reasonably good shape. Growth is robust though not fantastic. There are headwinds from abroad, which will prevent UK from accelerating.
- According to him, one should not expect meaningful improvement, given systematic disappointment in global economy.
- Interest rate are likely to remain within 1-3%, once they rise, well below the level before crisis.
- Over further easing he feels central bank hasn't run out of road, if it wants to ease further.
Pound has taken a sharp hit today, over inflation data, trading at 1.523 against Dollar, down from 1.539 today's high.
