BoE's Fisher 'poised for emergency bond purchase'

The Bank of England's Paul Fisher said he would consider making emergency bond purchases if the UK's economy suddenly slumped.

The policymaker, who was operationally in charge of the £200bn quantitative easing programme, is poised to expand it if the economy takes a sharp downturn. although he conceded he would be against eight others on the committee, the Daily Mail reports. He said: "I would consider it and still hold that possibility open." Fisher also said the UK economy must get through its growth 'soft patch' before interest rates can be hiked from historic lows of 0.5%, even though inflation is at twice the BoE's 2% target. He said: "What we have seen is no consumption growth now, all of last year. ...