Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey today said he’s “very sorry” that households are being hit by rising inflation.
“Inflation is clearly something that bites on people’s real household income,” he told the Today programme:
“They will feel that. I’m sure they’re already feeling that, in terms of prices going up.
“I am very sorry that’s happening. None of us want to see that happen.”
It comes after Bank of England policymakers left interest rates on hold at just 0.1% yesterday but hinted at a hike in the coming months.
Danni Hewson, AJ Bell financial analyst, said: “Rather like the boy who cried wolf, the Bank of England’s failure to raise interest rates today after giving what many believed was a clear indication that it would, could lead many investors to simply ignore future guidance.
“[Yesterday’s] hike had been priced in, it’s failure to launch has driven London markets up this afternoon, with the more domestically focussed FTSE 250 in particular enjoying what in this case feels like a rather unhealthy jump. Generally real estate exhaled and financials winced. Whether you agree that this was ultimately the best move to keep a fragile economy moving forward or a lost chance to grip inflation doesn’t really matter. It’s the way it wasn’t done that will ultimately do the most damage and there are plenty of pundits accusing Andrew Bailey of becoming the countries latest ‘unreliable boyfriend’.”
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