LONDON (MNI) – It is impossible to know when things will settle
down and the return to normal rates of growth will only be gradual, Bank
of England Monetary Policy Committee member David Miles said.
Miles spoke to ITV News during a regional visit and said he could
not be confident if the Eurozone would survive in its current form. He
said it would be a big mistake to tighten policy at present, and
highlighted the sheer uncertainty facing the MPC.
“Who knows how this thing will play out. I think it is pretty
difficult to know where we will be even at the end of this week, let
alone where we will be in three to six months time,” Miles said.
“The return to more normal rates of growth is something that is
going to be a gradual process over the course of the next two years,” he
added.
The MPC’s latest forecasts show growth in the last quarter of this
year and the first of next is expected to be near flat, with just 0.9%
growth expected in 2012.
Asked if the Eurozone would survive, Miles said “I don’t think any
of us can feel confident one way or another about whether all the
countries that are currently in the Eurozone will still be in it.”
–London newsroom: 4420 7 862 7491; email:
ukeditorial@marketnews.com
[TOPICS: M$B$$$,M$$BE$]
