MPC´s job is not to watch risks crystalise, BoE´s Carney says

The Monetary Policy Committee is tasked by parliament with adressing potential risks, not just talking about or watching them develop, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney told members of the Treasury Select Committee.

Although the topic of the hearing was the BoE´s latest Inflation Report, the Committee´s members began by querying Carney about whether he believed, or not, that Bank´s policy response following the referendum had not been too 'heavy-handed'.

Carney explained he was "comfortable" with his decision to add to stimulus, adding that the MPC´s decision had kept the risks which had been identified form crystalising.

On what his estimate was of the current rate of economic growth, Carney said that it was probably around 0.1% [in quarter-over-quarter terms], perhaps a bit stronger.

Prior to the new stimulus measures which were announced, the MPC believed that GDP might be on track to shrink at roughly a 0.4% clip, Carney went on to say.

Those measures had helped the economy "sail through a period that was a surprise to the vast majority" of observers.

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