WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Bank of England Deputy Governor Dave Ramsden said on Friday that inflation could hold around the central bank’s 2% target for the next three years rather than rise higher later this year as set out in the BoE’s most recent forecasts.
Figures showed on Wednesday that Britain’s annual consumer price inflation fell to 3.2% in March from 3.4% in February, extending its drop from a peak of 11.1% in October 2022.
The BoE has said it expects inflation to hit or undershoot its 2% target in April, thanks in large part to weaker energy prices, before rising closer to 3% by the end of this year.
But Ramsden – in comments prepared for a conference organised by the Peterson Institute for International Economics – said the thought that forecast might prove too strong.
“For me the balance of domestic risks to the outlook for UK inflation, relative to the February … forecasts, is now tilted to the downside, with a scenario where inflation stays close to the 2% target over the whole forecast period at least as likely,” Ramsden said.
