Oil climbs again as Bank of England economist warns of 'dangerous moment' for UK inflation      

Warning inflationary pressure might force the central bank to turn off the tap of its huge monetary stimulus

Bank of England chief economist Andy Haldane said the beast of inflation was never dead

The price of global oil climbed for a second day, to $72.20 (€59.29) a barrel, on signs that the world economy will expand rapidly following the Covid recession.

It comes as Bank of England chief economist Andy Haldane said that Britain was at a dangerous moment as he warned of inflationary pressure that might force the central bank to turn off the tap of its huge monetary stimulus.

Mr Haldane, who last year warned against the self-defeating economics of fear, said the beast of inflation was never dead and that Britain risked a wage-price spiral reminiscent of the 1970s and 1980s, writing in an opinion piece published by the New Statesman. 

"In my view this is the most dangerous moment for monetary policy since inflation-targeting was first introduced into the UK in 1992 after the European Exchange Rate Mechanism debacle," Mr Haldane said.

He said Britain's economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic was surprising to the upside.

"If wages and prices begin a game of leapfrog, we will get the sort of wage-price spiral familiar from the 1970s and 1980s," he said, adding that inflation would not be on the same scale as in those decades.

In an interview with LBC radio earlier on Wednesday, Haldane said inflation pressure in Britain was looking "pretty punchy".