It's Official. Bank of England Speeches Are Actually Impenetrable

Bank of England Chief Economist Andy Haldane just said something we’ve all thought for a very long time. The trouble is, people possibly weren’t listening.

Communications from the U.K. central bank are too complex and inaccessible to the man on the street, Haldane said in a — ahem — 9,000-word speech in London on Wednesday. In addition, only around one quarter of the general public believes the BOE explains its actions and decisions in terms they can understand, he said, citing bank data, with the linguistic complexity of BOE speeches and publications outstripping that of even commercial banks’ annual reports.