Inflation & Prices

BOE’s Mann Says Energy Price Caps May Be Lifting Other Inflation

  • Caps may allow ‘reorientation of spending’ to other goods
  • Says it’s unclear what happens to inflation when caps removed

Catherine Mann

Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
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Price caps on energy in response to a price surge following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine might be sparking inflation in other sectors by boosting consumer spending, Bank of England policy maker Catherine Mann said.

By capping energy prices for consumers, “we have effectively mechanically reduced the inflation rates that are relevant for my monetary policy decision,” she said Saturday during a panel discussion at the annual conference of the American Economics Association in New Orleans.