|
|
Article: How high? Interest rates. (Bank of England raises the interest rate)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- July 12, 1997
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
EDDIE GEORGE is starting to find out why Gordon Brown was in such a hurry to give the Bank of England its independence. The chancellor of the exchequer must be delighted that it is not he but Mr George, the governor of the Bank, and its new monetary policy committee, that must set short-term interest rates at a time when the interest-rate judgment is unusually difficult and the potential economic costs of getting it wrong look unusually large. Before the monetary policy committee met on July 9th-10th, Mr George was urged on the one hand to raise interest rates by up to one percentage-point to prevent a 1980s-style boom-and-bust and, on the other, to leave rates unchanged so ...