Bank Of England's Taylor Sees Rates on Hold Barring Worst-Case Scenario

• Bank of England (BoE) policymaker Alan Taylor said interest ​rates at their current level ‌were restrictive for the economy and he did not see the ​need for an increase ​to tackle inflationary pressures that ⁠have grown as a result ​of the Iran war.
• As he defined it, "restrictive" in central bank terminology means that borrowing costs are sufficiently high to moderate economic activity and dampen demand. The implication: rates don’t need to go higher to fight inflation, even though UK CPI is running at 2.8%, well above the BoE’s 2% target.
• Taylor was one of the strongest ​advocates on ​the ⁠BoE's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) for rate cuts before ​the U.S. and Israeli ​war ⁠with Iran began. He and a majority of MPC members ⁠have ​voted since then ​to keep borrowing costs on hold.

(Source: Reuters)