BoE’s Mann: Second half of 2023 is a temporary soft patch
Bank of England (BoE) policymaker and Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) member Catharine L Mann hit newswires on Thursday while discussing her policy outlook at an economic policy conference at the Annual National Association for Business Economics.
Key highlights
- Latest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data confirms that the second half of 2023 was a soft patch.
- The BoE needs at least one more inflation data print before deciding next moves.
- UK unemployment rate remains “pretty low”, labor market continues to be tight.
- Wage growth is slowing, but the pace remains “challenging” for the BoE’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) target.
- GDP data is a rear-view mirror, Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) and other forward-looking data all look good.
- Goods inflation has slowed across all advanced economies.
- Decomposition sources of inflation will be important in policy decisions.
- Goods prices may be deflationary at some point in the UK, but not on a durable basis.
- The UK has much stickier services inflation than the EU or the US.