Bank of England policymakers -OxBig News Network

LONDON, Feb 6 (Reuters) –

The Bank of England cut interest rates

as it halved its growth outlook for this year and said a jump in inflation will prove temporary.

Here’s what Bank of England officials said in a press conference following that decision:

BANK OF ENGLAND GOVERNOR ANDREW BAILEY

On Inflation and future rate moves:

“We expect to be able to cut bank rate further as the disinflation process continues, but we will have to judge meeting by meeting, how far and how fast.”

“The judgment we will have to make at our future meetings is whether underlying inflationary pressures in the UK economy are easing enough to allow further cuts in bank rate.”

“We live in an uncertain world and the road ahead will have bumps on it.”

“There is more uncertainty. That’s why we’ve paired gradually and careful.”

“Behind this uptick in headline inflation stands a continued gradual easing of underlying inflationary pressures in the UK economy and this is the backdrop to our withdrawal of monetary policy restrictiveness and to our policy decision today.”

“In terms of pushing back on stagflation, I really would come back to that point that our judgment today is really anchored on a view that we think the disinflation trend is in place.”

“Metrics of business and consumer confidence have deteriorated over recent months. Contacts at the bank’s agents report that consumers are more price conscious and holding back on spending. This is consistent with a slowdown in demand.”

“Today, the labour market is cooling. The context is one of a weakening in economic activity.”

“There are risks from the global economy too. It remains unclear what form global trade policies might ultimately take, and the MPC’s February projection is not conditioned on any change in global tariffs.”

On government’s economic growth plans:

“Structural policies take time to come through. So when we’re looking at a policy, a two to three year horizon here, you wouldn’t expect a lot of that to come through quickly.”