Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news
- Introduction: Bank of England meeting today
- Economists expect BoE to raise growth forecasts
Economist David Owen of Jefferies also expects the Bank to raise its growth forecasts today:
An upward revision to the BoE’s 2021 GDP forecast is almost a given. Of more interest is what, on a 3 year view, they say on inflation and whether they decide to taper.
Net gilt purchases are running at just under £4.5bn a week. Reduce that to £2.5bn a week and they would still hit their £895bn target for the outstanding stock of QE (including £20bn of credit) by year end.
The Bank of England will say today that Britain’s economy is heading for a much stronger recovery this year than it previously expected, predicts Reuters:
The BoE forecast in February that the world’s fifth-biggest economy would grow by 5% in 2021, having slumped by 10% in 2020.
That was a bigger hit than in most other European economies after Prime Minister Boris Johnson was slower to impose a coronavirus lockdown and had to keep it in place for longer in an economy heavily reliant on face-to-face consumer services.
Bank of England to say UK recovery is accelerating https://t.co/KLZ6JT5meZ pic.twitter.com/VAT3jjfkQa