Comments from Shafik just published in the Leicester Mercury
- "We do follow the exchange rate closely so are definitely not indifferent to it."
- "Having a flexible exchange rate is a very helpful shock absorber for any economy"
- Full story
On cutting rates she said that because they "were worried about what was likely to happen to investments we thought it was better to act preemptively before the shock hit... We looked at the data and on balance felt the benefit to the economy as a whole of that August package outweighed unintended consequences to pensions and insurance companies because if the economy is doing well then those will too."
There is some common sense here and she's reiterating what Carney said plus she's leaving the BOE soon so I don't see this as a driver.
h/t to LiveSquawk for the heads up. It hasn't hit the main newswires yet.
