BANGKOK: The International Monetary Fund’s upward revision to its forecast for British economic growth this year adds to signs that Bank of England interest rates are not very restrictive, BoE policymaker Megan Greene said on Tuesday.
Greene – who is part of a minority on the BoE’s Monetary Policy Committee that has voted for higher rates – restated her view that the dangers of keeping rates on hold too long were greater than the cost of a potentially premature rate rise.
“I’m not surprised that our GDP forecast has been revised upwards by the IMF. To my mind, this reflects the level of restrictiveness of the stance of monetary policy, where I just don’t think we’re that restrictive,” Greene told the Atlantic Council think tank on the sidelines of the IMF’s annual meeting in Bangkok.