The Bank of England has sharply revised its unemployment forecasts but emphasised this does not mean it is guaranteed to hike rates once the 7% threshold is reached.
As part of its forward guidance policy, the Bank has committed to making no decision on raising interest rates until the unemployment rate reaches 7%, a move which it said in August could take three years. But today's quarterly Inflation Report saw the BoE acknowledge that threshold is now likely to be reached by either Q3 2015, under one scenario, or as soon as Q4 2014 under another. That followed separate news this morning that the unemployment rate fell from 7.7% to 7.6% in Q3. Speaking this morning, Bank governor Mark Carney pointed out the 7% level acts as a threshold, not a t...
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