BoE's Andy Haldane hawkish tone - UOB

Analysts at UOB Group explained that the Bank of England (BOE) chief economist Andy Haldane in a speech on Wednesday (21 Jun) struck a hawkish tone as he said, “The risks of tightening ‘too early’ have shrunk as growth and, to lesser extent, inflation have shown greater resilience than expected…

Key Quotes:

"Provided the data are still on track, I do think that beginning the process of withdrawing some of the incremental stimulus provided last August would be prudent moving into the second half of the year.” 

He noted that such a tightening “is likely to be needed well ahead of current market expectations”. He explained that weak wage growth and chance of slowdown meant he voted keeping rates steady in June. 

(BOE’s MPC members voted 5-3 on 8 Jun to keep rates unchanged at 0.25%. Haldane was not one of them.) But now Haldane thinks that withdrawal of some stimulus should be seen as sign of confidence in economy."