Mark carney

Oh dear. Mark Carney is irritated. His proud independence has been challenged. The Prime Minister had the temerity to admit that she was not altogether thrilled with his ‘super-low’ interest rates and quantitative easing. These policies meant that people with assets got richer, she pointed out. ‘People without them suffered… People with savings have found themselves poorer.’ Mr Carney found this intolerable and haughtily rebuffed her, saying, ‘The policies are done by technocrats. We are not going to take instruction on our policies from the political side.’ Back in your box, Mrs May. Carney’s in charge! As they clash, it is increasingly hard to remember what a bright day it

It takes quite a determined Cassandra to see the rise in Consumer Prices Index (CPI) from 0.6 per cent in August to one per cent in September as some kind of crisis, not that that will stop the holdouts of the Remain campaign from trying to do so. When CPI fell below one per cent at the end of 2014, you might remember, there were dark warnings about the threat of deflation – with the horrors that would imply for borrowers, who would see the real value of their debts increase. Now, some are trying to present a rise to one per cent as bad news, with former Monetary Policy

If only all my stories had as much impact. My interview with Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England, sent shockwaves around the world’s currency markets. The Canadian was just three months into his new role as Britain’s most powerful unelected official when he visited Leeds to explain the central bank’s then new policy of forward guidance to a group of business leaders at the offices of one of the city’s Big Six law firms. In person, Carney was smooth, confident and assured, just as you would expect from someone who spent his formative years at Goldman Sachs. I had 10 minutes with the Governor, who was accompanied

How does Mark Carney feel about his ‘Project Fear’ warnings in the run-up to the referendum? His mild-mannered nemesis Jacob Rees-Mogg probably wouldn’t have been prepared for the Bank of England Governor’s choice of words to describe his mood. Carney was ‘serene’ about how he handled himself before Brexit, he told the Treasury Select Committee this afternoon. But Carney didn’t stop there: he also did his best to bait Rees-Mogg, who has clashed with Carney several times before at these hearings, suggesting the session was being wasted ‘going through counterfactuals’. He then went on to slap down any suggestion from the Tory MP that his warnings had been ‘dire’. Yet

Did you see that odd photo of George Osborne looking shifty, queuing up in the Vietnamese jungle for the chance to fire an M60 machine gun? I found it interesting for a number of reasons. One, obviously, is that it’s probably the first time in five years Osborne hasn’t been pictured wearing a hard hat and goggles. Another is what it tells us about his earnings prospects on the US speaker tour circuit: those guns can fire up to 650 rounds a minute — so at the local tourist rate of £1 a bullet that’s quite an expensive cheap thrill. Mainly, though, what struck me about that snap was just

Plunging output. The FTSE in freefall. A financial collapse. Unemployment rising rapidly and trade falling off a cliff. At first glance, you might think that was an accurate description of the British economy, given the decisions that the Bank of England took this morning. After all, to cut interest rates to their lowest level in history, to re-launch quantitative easing, and to promise more action down the road, the economy must be in crisis, right? Except, er, it isn’t really. While there are good reasons to argue that the decision to leave the European Union may well hurt the economy in the medium-term, there is no immediate emergency. In fact,

Savings accounts are disappearing rapidly as the expected cut to the base rate draws closer, says the Guardian. Moneyfacts, a data provider, found that 13 best buy savings deals were withdrawn in July – and have yet to be replaced. These include a three-year bond from Saga at 1.8 per cent and other deals from Virgin Money. The Post Office, too, has scrapped its top-paying three-year bond. Savers will be badly affected if the Bank of England cuts the base rate to 0.25 per cent as anticipated, the paper warns. On the other hand, borrowers are likely to do well. Moneyfacts found that mortgage rates have dropped to a new low

Britain’s financial status could be downgraded this week amid reports the Bank of England will cut interest rates on Thursday. The Guardian says that the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee will examine the latest growth forecasts and inflation report, and then make a decision on whether to cut interest. If they do, it will be the first time the rate has changed since it was set at 0.5 per cent in March 2009. Mark Carney, the governor, warned that a vote for Brexit could tip the UK into recession and the figures seem to back up this pessimism, according to the paper. In May, growth was forecast at 2.3 per cent, but economists now