City Of London
Bank of England Should Go Faster on Rates, NatWest Chairman Says
- Howard Davies said on Bloomberg Television on Friday
- Central banks have raised rates as inflation fears mount
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The Bank of England should raise rates more quickly to signal its willingness to tackle inflation over the medium term, according to NatWest Group Plc Chairman Howard Davies.
The weakness of sterling is adding to global pressure from rising fuel and food prices, he said in an interview with Bloomberg TV Friday. “If you get a very sharp exogenous shock, like an oil price increase of the sort we’ve had, and the war, then you can’t expect central banks to deal with that instantly,” he said. “But what they must do is present a plausible path of interest rates which is going to deliver them back to the inflation target in 18 months to two years’ time.”