BoE's Broadbent: More 'protracted and clearer' decline in inflation needed to confirm downward trend

London Business School speech

Bank of England rate setter Ben Broadbent has argued the monetary policy committee will need to see signs of a “more protracted and clearer decline” in inflation before it can “safely conclude” a downward trend is taking place.

Speaking at the London Business School today (18 December), the deputy governor for monetary policy addressed the use of data and estimates by the MPC, but also the problems the committee is facing due to the current "volatility of official estimates" and data. He said a lot of economic metrics - such as GDP, employment and wages - may not be "perfectly measured", which is often why the relevant information comes with a delay leading to revisions to several data sets. For instance, Broadbent highlighted how estimated growth during 2020 and 2021 was revised up by almost two percentage ...