Bank Rate has likely bottomed, BoE's Ramsden says

Nonetheless, he added that the monetary authority was "duty bound" to study a move below zero as a possible option to help foster an economic recovery.

Speaking at Britain's Society of Professional Economists, Ramsden said: "For me, I see the effective lower bound still at 0.1 which is where Bank Rate is at present."

His remarks echoed those of Governor Andrew Bailey, according to whom Bank was analysing and preparing to implement negative rates in case they should ever be needed, but that no one should "read any more into that".

On 22 September, Bailey told a webinar hosted by the British Chambers of Commerce: "nobody should read more into" the statement from the last Monetary Policy Committee meeting.

"It would be a cardinal sin if we stated we had a tool in the box we didn’t think we could use in practice. It is no surprise we’re going to do this work," the Governor said.

"We are not about to use them imminently. It will take time to do this work," Ramsden also said on Monday.

That comment also appeared to be in-line with Bailey's thinking, who on 6 August had indicated that a move into negative might in any case be more effective once the economy was in a recovery phase, whereas now it could be counterproductive due to its impact on lenders.