Who will win the battle of the MPC?
As the Bank of England MPC readies itself for today's monthly meeting it seems we could have something of a battle royal on our hands with one MPC member looking for UK base rates to be increased and another looking for quantitative easing to be reintroduced. In between these two very extreme views we have a number of other MPC members who have yet to fall into either camp.
It will be interesting to see how this month's meeting develops and indeed whether we see some form of clarity going forward. Only a few days ago it seemed almost inevitable that quantitative easing would be reintroduced to the UK yet we had a former deputy governor of the Bank of England suggesting the return on this investment was minimal and UK base rates should rise in the short to medium term.
Against this backdrop it is very difficult to see a clear way ahead with regards to the MPC, fiscal stimulus programs and UK base rates. Despite for many years being something of an enigma to the outside world, MPC members are now more vocal in their public support for various strategies and various options for the future. Perhaps the era of closed-door discussions are coming to an end at the Bank of England and we are now entering a much more open era?
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