I’ve given us some rate-cut elbow room, ‘Mark Carney’ writes to ‘Philip Hammond’
Mark Gilbert writes that because inflation is back in the UK, he is obliged to explain what the central bank is doing to bring it back into line over the policy horizon
London — Economists expect UK consumer prices to miss the inflation target by more than one percentage point on Thursday. That would oblige Bank of England governor Mark Carney to write to Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond to explain the overshoot. We at Gadfly have taken the liberty of penning the missive on his behalf. Dear Chancellor Hammond, I’m assuming you’re still at your post by the time this letter reaches you and that Boris Johnson and Michael Gove haven’t persuaded the Prime Minister to ditch you for being too wet on Brexit. (If I’m wrong, well, good day to you, Chancellor Rees-Mogg. You’ll have my resignation letter this afternoon.) The last time I wrote to you, in December of last year, it was to explain why inflation was more than a percentage point below target. That followed a similar letter in August 2016. And one in May. And in February, and November 2015, and August 2015, and … well, you get the picture. As I explained almost a year ago, declining food pr...
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