UK rate rise not a certainty, says Mark Carney

An increase in Britain’s rock-bottom interest rates is not guaranteed although households should prepare for higher borrowing costs, Bank of England governor Mark Carney has said.

“If we think there is a prospect, a possibility of rate rises, then that is far, far better to let the British people know so they can prepare,” he said in an interview with the Mail on Sunday.

“If events mean that does not happen and rate rises are not appropriate, then we will do the right thing and we will not adjust rates,” Carney was quoted as saying.

The bank cut interest rates to a record low of 0.5% in 2009 and has kept them there ever since, even as Britain’s economy recovered strongly over the past two years.

Carney said in the interview that the bank expected that when rates do go up, the path would be “gentle,” echoing his previous guidance on what is likely to happen to borrowing costs as Britain recovers from the financial crisis.

He also said the bank was “focused not on loosening monetary policy, but on raising interest rates and deciding the right time and place to do that”.

Carney defended recent speeches he has made on risks to the financial sector from climate change and on the benefits and risks to Britain’s economy from its membership in the EU, a sensitive political issue before a referendum on Britain’s EU membership which is due before the end of 2017.

Mark Carney's speech on Britain's EU membership, summed up in 90 seconds https://t.co/kYfQxZ6Saw pic.twitter.com/nvjS27F7kO

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