BoE's Saunders says the question of whether to curtail our current asset purchase program early will be under consideration at our forthcoming meetings & "..it may become appropriate fairly soon to withdraw some of the current monetary stimulus.."
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SectionBoE
- In my view, if activity and inflation indicators remain in line with recent trends and downside risks to growth and inflation do not rise significantly (and these conditions are important), then it may become appropriate fairly soon to withdraw some of the current monetary stimulus in order to return inflation to the 2% target on a sustained basis
- In this case, options might include curtailing the current asset purchase program – ending it in the next month or two and before the full £150bn has been purchased – and/or further monetary policy action next year.
- Beyond the next few meetings, I want to stress that if Bank Rate does rise in the next year or so, it is likely that any rise would be relatively limited
- There is an argument that we should keep the current policy stance at least until it is clear that the end of the furlough scheme (scheduled for end-September) has not been followed by a significant rise in unemployment. .... In my view, that strategy would exacerbate risks that inflation expectations drift higher in coming months
- If (and this is not my central expectation) the economy were to develop in such a way that further easing is required at some stage in the next year or two, the MPC would have the scope and the tools to do so.
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