Himsworth: QE is like stuffing cash into a black hole

Quantitative easing will not lift the UK out of its economic slump, as monetary stimulus in a financial downturn is ‘like stuffing cash into a black hole', said Eden's Leigh Himsworth.

The manager of the Eden UK Select Opportunities fund said the UK government has backed monetary policy as the key to saving the economy, overlooking the importance of fiscal stimulus. “We have had monetary stimulus for nearly four years now in the UK and much of the Western world and it is not actually creating the loan growth we want,” he said. “Monetary stimulus in terms of low interest rates, £325bn of QE in the UK, and now the LTRO in Europe is still not really curing the blockage. There is still an element of ‘dead men walking’. “When you have a huge financial downturn, moneta...